To be A Hero
by Airheaded dude
Summary: AU The clouds of destiny have begun swirling in the skies, they move in great haste, as life intertwines. Step forth and bare your fangs. For the moment is at hand. Let your spirits be straight and true. Not your typical Naruto/Bleach crossover.
1. Meeting

Shounen Town

Description: Not your typical BLEACH/Naruto crossover, this is an AU that feels more like superheroes than it does SJ wise in terms of setting and plot. As it is, I will be explaining that Konoha isn't a village but rather a sub branch of a peacekeeping corps called "Shinobi". The same with Soul Society being an organization of a different kind that exists to hunt down paranormal creatures dubbed as "Hollows". Of course, the gist will be the same, the Arrancar will exist, the Akatsuki will exist and a few others. Truthfully I wanted to add one more series to make it feel more SJ like to a total number of four but seeing as I've concentrated on the three pillars of the current Jump Magazine, I won't be putting another one.

Summary: The world that you are living in is much larger than you think. There exists within this world, people that can do extraordinary things, quietly, they move with the crowd of ordinary men and women, never to be seen in public, but they always watch. This is their tale.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, One Piece and Bleach, all rights are exclusive to their respective authors (Masashi Kishimoto, Oda Eichiro and Kubo Tite). This is strictly for fan purposes only.

Prologue: Convergence

* * *

Kurosaki Ichigo casually walked towards his school, wearing his grey uniform handbag comfortably held with his left and straddled on his adjacent shoulder, his free hand in his pocket.

The orange haired fifteen year old had an aloof emotion strung across his face as he trekked his way to school, only to stop at a nearby corner and saw a blonde haired boy, as tall as he is, lying prone on the narrow road, wearing what looked like a pair of pants, a white shirt and a tattered denim vest. To his side was a duffle bag that lay at the side of the road.

"F-Foood…" the boy mumbled as he reached out to Ichigo with shaky hands.

Ichigo felt sorry for the mismatched boy, from the looks of things, the dude was a country bumpkin. That could explain the ridiculous style of clothing that his dad seemed to have a liking to and the duffle bag that seemed as tall as his torso.

Ichigo sighed and shook his head, as he helped the teen up and acted as the young man's support for the time being until they can quench the boy's hunger at a nearby restaurant. As they walked off with Ichigo carrying both the blonde and his somewhat heavy duffle bag, the orange haired teen couldn't exactly tell what was in the bag as he both carried the load and hearing the sound of the school bell ringing.

'_Looks like I'm going to skip class again…' _The orange haired teen inwardly sighed, as he walked away from the sight, another mark for his behaviour for the already bad track record on Kurosaki Ichigo.

One hour later:

Three bowls of rice, two tonkatsu, three ebi tempura, an order of gyudon, two bowls of ramen and a plate of sushi later, the blonde was patting his belly like an over satisfied pig and uncouthly belching out loud in front of Ichigo. The blonde grinned and proceeded to shake the orange teen's hand forcefully, happy for the help. One of the orange haired teen's eyelids was twitching as the blonde stuffed himself and presumably killed his allowance till the next week.

'_What the hell is up with this weirdo__?' _Ichigo thought to himself as the blonde then said, "Man! Thanks for the food there, buddy! It really recharged my batteries there!" Said the blonde as the boy then continued,

"Namikaze Naruto is forever in your debt- tebayo!" Said the blonde, Ichigo merely gave Naruto a scrutinizing look and said, "Yeah, whatever, so what's a country boy like you doing around here?"

Naruto looked surprised by that statement and asked, "H-How did you know! My disguise was perfect!"

"You call that set of clothes blending in? You really are a country bumpkin." Ichigo commented with a haphazard grin that seemed to piss Naruto off, "Hey! I'll have you know that these clothes really do make you feel that you're in the city! Why, just yesterday when I was in Shinjuku everyone was smiling at me and the girls were gossiping about me!" The blonde proudly declared, to which Ichigo replied in a deadpan and unimpressed voice, "No, I bet they were laughing at you and made fun of you because you are so out of style."

As if on cue, one of the girls from behind their table giggled and whispered to each other, "What a dork."

Ichigo grinned wickedly and pointed at his back while Naruto grew even angrier, "Well, excuse me for being a country bumpkin!"

Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle at this, just because Naruto looked more sad than angry, like he was about to cry. Naruto sat back down to his seat with his head facing the table, as if it was the only thing interesting in the world. It wasn't his fault that it was the first time he had ever been to the city!

"Now, if you could answer my first question…" Ichigo had nothing better to do, he had already skipped class because of this and he doubted that he felt mortified about it (having done so on a few occasions). He didn't plan on skipping out today but he'd be damned if he had to go back home and be bored to death right now.

"I'm looking for my father in this picture!" The blonde mentioned, grabbing a photo from his pocket and shoving it to Ichigo's face.

The orange haired teen leaned back a little, trying to get a good look and preventing himself from getting cross eyed. What he saw in the picture, was that of a blonde man, wearing what looked like the standard blue overcoat uniform of the peacekeeping corps that the local mayor established a few years back.

Ichigo gave a small frown as he grabbed the photo from Naruto. He never trusted the corps that had suddenly appeared in town a few years ago, they arrived one year before his mother's disappearance leaving behind a katana. Ichigo's family had tried to enlist the help of the group countless times only to be turned down and left helpless when investigation after investigation turned out meaningless. To Ichigo, the corps was incompetent; they were a bunch of mere figureheads that only move when money is involved. They could not be a unit that serves independently to defend the town from a recent influx of these supernatural phenomena that littered at night.

It had been three years ago when the town encountered their first paranormal experience in the form of a creature that had froglike features but with something that seemed to be calcified bones protecting its head like a mask. As if it couldn't be anymore bizarre, the said creature had a perfectly clean and bloodless hole on its chest.

The Peacekeeping corps had done nothing after it. After a string of missing persons and appearances of these creatures continued at night, there had already been reported strings of cases of ten people (mostly children) missing since three years ago and yet not a single clue was given on what happened to them. To this, Ichigo said to the blonde truthfully, "I'm sorry, I haven't seen him, but you know, we could go to the corps headquarters now and check on this person, I'm sure they have a file or something on him."

Naruto looked happy at that as his eyes sparkled and enthusiastically asked Ichigo, "REALLY?"

The waitress walked towards them and handed them the bill, Ichigo grabbed his wallet and was about to let out all the money he had until he saw Naruto forking over his, the Waitress noticed SOMETHING on the blonde, and bowed deeply at Naruto, Ichigo looked curious for a moment, before finally saying to Naruto,

"Yes, really, now come on. That suit of yours is giving of waves of awkwardness and it's starting to rub off on me too." Ichigo nonchalantly mentioned, Naruto looked like his fuse was lit.

"This get-up is NOT awkward!" Naruto vehemently denied as he grabbed his duffle bag and continued, "These are my old man's clothes, the clothes that are considered hip in this city!"

"Not if you look like Kamen Rider Black's alter ego." Ichigo commented, Naruto looked confused for a second as he squinted his eyes and tilted his head then asked.

"Who's Ramen Kider Black? Is he some kind of cool Ramen vendor!" Naruto asked that last question with another bout of excitement and enthusiasm.

"_Kamen Rider_ Black." Ichigo corrected before he continued, "And no, he isn't a ramen vendor, now come on, we're burning daylight."

Trust a bumpkin to know nothing of pop culture.

Ichigo and Naruto were about to go outside when they heard the sound of metal bending and screeching followed by glass shattering.

Turning to the window, they saw a white sedan, its hood totally damaged and compressed to a pulp, the windshield and the windows were shattered and laid across the sidewalk. The people outside looked on in fear.

"What the… Those monsters only appear at night! What's going on here?" Ichigo yelled, as both he and Naruto dashed outside, Naruto looked around and found countless people running for their lives, as a towering behemoth that looked like an elephant was beginning to rampage all around the street. A teen, wearing a yellow shirt and khaki shorts, lay sprawled near the wrecked vehicle his body covered in bruises but didn't look like he had any cuts at all.

"Oi, that kid's in danger!" Naruto was about to make a run for it until Ichigo stopped him, "Don't, you'll only get stomped by that monster as well!"

"But…" Naruto was about to retort until Ichigo stopped him. The orange haired teen pointed to a street light being bent down to the cemented road before the light bulb shattered.

"You may not see it very well, but I do, look closer and you'll see there's a silhouette of something there."

Naruto squinted his eyes and indeed, he did saw a silhouette of a creature, bigger than any animal he had seen so far. Hell, it was bigger than the horse that he raised back at home!

"That's a monster that keeps on kidnapping people, mostly its kids who are these bastards' victims, but today they looked like they're out for more…" Ichigo turned his gaze back at the elephant wearing a white bone like mask. Its tusk menacingly pointed to the boy sprawled on the ground.

Naruto merely squatted down as his features were replaced from being a goofy looking country boy, to that of a cold and serious warrior. "I'm not one to turn away from an injured person. If you want to stop me, fine, but even then, it won't be enough!"

Naruto then suddenly vanished from Ichigo's vision, a loud crash was heard from the area where the monster and the injured kid were. Ichigo slowly turned his vision, expecting a carnage taking place however; he saw no blood spilled as the towering mammoth's tusks penetrated the ceramic wall. Naruto stood on the opposite end, the boy carried on his shoulders as he looked back on the monster's silhouette slowly taking form.

"I'm starting to see it." Naruto mumbled, but as soon as he was about to turn and face the monster, he heard the boy groan and stir from his back. Naruto turned around and saw that the boy was about to wake up. His black hair kept the tilted up, showing his beady black eyes and a stitch on his right cheek just below the adjacent eye. The boy looked around and said, "Damn elephant… Why couldn't it just stay still for one second so that I can beat and give it to Sanji! He said elephant had great meat and I wanted to try one!"

Naruto looked at the boy with incredulous at the boy, even if Naruto was a country boy, he could immediately tell what an elephant was and what wasn't. This thing certainly did look like one, more to the point, Naruto asked the boy, "You willingly provoked that THING to attack you!"

The boy gave him a smile showing his pearly white teeth as if it was an achievement of some sort.

"Of course I did! I wanted to try out elephant meat!" Said the boy, Naruto merely replied, "That thing doesn't even look like an elephant!"

"Well it's got a long nose, doesn't it?" the boy pointed and Naruto looked at the said monster, as it was turning its head towards them, the tip of its nose pointing at the two.

"See? An elephant! An elephant!" The boy cheerfully pointed out, Naruto couldn't believe the person standing in front of him.

With a massive roar, the elephant charged at the two teens, lowering its tusks as it intended to skewer both Naruto and the black haired boy. Naruto squatted down once again and mumbled.

"Shunshin no Jutsu…" With a flicker, Naruto blurred out of sight, with the boy still clearly on his back. They reappeared beside Ichigo, who had been looking flabbergasted ever since the beginning.

"Just who are you anyway, Naruto!" Was his only question, Naruto turned to him and gave a haphazard grin.

"Namikaze Naruto, just a man looking for his father." Said the blonde grabbing something from his pocket which turned out to be a yellow Swiss Knife, the knife was brown at the handle, with a gold ornament at the base and hilt. The blonde instantly vanished again and seemingly reappeared underneath the behemoth slashing at one part of the leg before vanishing again.

The monster flinched and howled in pain as it felt its left foreleg was slashed ruthlessly. However, the said creature refused to fall as it adjusted his other foreleg for support.

"Damn, that's one tough monster… It remained standing even after I cut off a tendon…" Naruto mentioned, as he began to take back steps and jumped on to the walls, trying to find a weakness in this abomination.

Naruto was about to lunge at the monster from one of the roofs and stab it in the back until he saw the black haired kid dashing towards the monster like a mad man.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Ichigo shouted at the boy, who merely ignored his question as the young man continued to charge like a rampaging bull.

Ichigo looked on in confusion as he watched the boy holding his arm right arm back with his left, looking like he was about to deliver one hell of a punch. He didn't expect the kid to stretch his hand back BEYOND his own arm length.

"Gomu Gomu no… Pistol!"

SMASH!

The punch flew towards the target and smashed its way towards the creature like a freight train completely sending it off balance and crashing on the asphalt.

"How in the hell did you do that!" Asked the blonde from the top of the building, looking down on the sight of the fallen elephant, the boy grinned as he said, "I'm a rubber man! I can stretch my whole body to anyway that I want!"

"That doesn't even seem possible!" Ichigo pointed out and then turned to Naruto, "You're the same as well!"

Naruto merely looked at Ichigo and shrugged.

The monster was about to recover when the trio looked at it, it roared out violently as it seemingly grew even angrier than it did before.

"You just pissed it off even further, if that was even possible!" Ichigo shouted at the grinning boy who turned and reeled his arm back again, attempting to deliver one more form of punishment.

But before he could do so, three ear piercingly loud gunshots were heard throughout the street, prompting the monster to flinch again and howled in pain even further as it was hit on its right torso.

"Keep your distance and try not to use any fancy techs out there as possible; there are far too many civilians in the proximity." Stated the person, who was accompanied with three other people, shorter than him, wearing the standard blue coat of the peacekeeping corps, long silver hair standing up to his back, as he kept half his face glued to the orange book in his right hand, Ichigo frowned, can some of the people from the corps see these monsters plainly as well?

"We don't know what that is, but make sure to bring it back alive so we can study it. It's been three years and those missing cases are piling up without as much as a clue, this is the biggest of what we got so far." Continued the man as the three others nodded.

All three of them wore the standard blue overcoat uniform that signified them as a member of the peacekeeping corps. Two young men and a teenage girl, One had sleek, black hair that spiked at the back, flowing down to his cheeks, and another one that had his hair maintained plainly over his head and seemed paler than the first, he had a perpetual smile plastered on his face which crept Ichigo out of his wits. The young woman with them had bubblegum pink hair, going down to the back of her neck and wearing a hair comb, green eyes eyeing the monster and the three boys watching the said monster.

"You have your orders. Move out." Casually said the man as all three subordinates affirmed their situation.

"Engaging the target…" Said the spiky, raven haired boy quickly grabbing his gun and ran on the walls, his irises turned blood red, crimson like the late afternoon sky, as three black comas appeared on the irises, spinning around and dancing near the pupil.

The said boy grabbed his pistol, aiming it at the legs of the said monster and fired four shots with that unmistakable bang. The bullets zoomed and hit its target by a fraction of a second as the said monster howled in pain once again.

Another boy appeared from the side of the monster taking out from his coat of what seemed to be a single edged knife, and with his left hand, slashed the monster to the legs letting out a spray of red liquid around. The monster wobbled on its feet, as it staggered from the pain that coursed through its legs eating away at its ability to stand. With a fierce cry, it raised its long snout upwards in an S shaped manner, coiling at the top of the head. Concentrating energy at the tip of its nose, dark-purplish molecules of energy began gathering, as it grew and grew to about the size of a tennis ball. It lashed out its snout and let out a deafening screech.

"Take it down, now!" Commanded the one that held the book, as if on cue, the pink haired girl earlier appeared at the underbelly of the said monster, left hand reeled back, the girl now wore a pair of black gloves as she jumped straight towards the exposed belly of the said monster.

The pink haired girl let out a mighty straight punch as it made a dull thudding sound on the belly, letting out a tumultuous shockwave all around the two combatants.

Silence followed.

Then a few seconds later, the creature's attack suddenly disappeared, as if it had lost its sustenance. It let out an anguished scream before falling on its side. It gave a loud thud as it hit the ground, red liquid spewing out of its mouth.

"Well that was pretty close…" Commented the silver haired man, now appearing beside the three, an indifferent look escaped about his only visible eye as it seemed that his left eye is covered with an eye patch, Ichigo just noticed it now, but it seemed half of his face has yet to be revealed, seeing that the book was still covering half of his face.

Celebration would come later however, when they saw that the weird creature began to dissolve like sand blowing to the wind. Ichigo had to keep his eyes opened as he saw the creature vanish to like how it came, it was so sudden, yet the fleeting moment was forever stamped in Ichigo's mind.

"Well… That's a bummer; guess Sakura killed it by mistake." Said the commanding officer as the pink haired girl now called Sakura lashed out to her superior. "Hey! How come you're pinning this on me? This was your plan in the first place, Kakashi-taichou!"

The silver haired commanding officer shrugged and said, "I just thought that the monster can take the heat. Obviously, it couldn't though."

"That was a waste of time. Sai, your timing sucked back there." Said the spiky haired brunette, looking aloof as he was about to walk away before looking at the paler boy only to be stopped with his fellow brunette giving that ever perpetual smile that crept the two acquaintances out.

"I disagree that it was a waste of time; I have discovered how much a person is willing to discard responsibility and throw his/her subordinate in the fire. I am willing to think that Kakashi-san does not want to report to the Chief for fear of backlash coming from such a strong and admittedly frightening woman." Sai commented, Kakashi looked as if he was ashamed of such a dead ringer statement and tried to put it in a lighter context,

"It's not like that; it was merely 'an accident'." Kakashi chastised feeling the pressure on his person.

"An accident that wasn't supposed to happen, using lethal force when subjugation was key isn't really an unseen error." Remarked the boy that had a duck's butt for a head, said boy began looking around and noticed a blonde man. A quick recognition on the boy and he nudged over to their apparent leader known as Kakashi and Sasuke pointed to the blonde whose single visible eye grew wide in surprise.

"S-Section chief?" He asked the blonde, the blonde looked questioningly at Kakashi and pointed to himself, "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Kakashi, now presumably out of his delusions, shook his head furiously at this, the section chief was gone, went missing by the time his son was born. He looked at the boy and suddenly deduced as to who the young man was, "Namikaze-sama?"

"Who? Me? Well, I AM a Namikaze but my first name is Naruto!" The blonde said with a smile.

Kakashi's hand shook whilst he held his book in his right hand. The silver haired commander of the group quickly went over to the boy and kneeled down.

"My apologies, Naruto-sama, it has been so long that I have not seen you, I give you my sincerest of apologies for not recognizing you so early on." Mentioned the man, to the side, the orange haired boy to his side gave a flat out, "What?"

"Naruto-sama comes from one of the nine noble houses in Japan. He is from a noble lineage that traces back during the Heian period right until now." Kakashi explained, to which, Ichigo asked in surprise this time, "WHAT?"

Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head and gave a mischievous grin, "Sorry about that, it's just that I really wanted to find my old man. My mother is so alone back in Kyoto since the disappearance and I felt that I needed to go to the city to look for him."

"IT'S NOT ABOUT THAT, MORON! YOU'RE STINKING RICH AND YOU HAD TO RELY ON ME TO HELP YOU OUT? DIDN'T YOU BRING SOME MONEY ON YOUR OWN?"

Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head again as he mentioned that he bought an electronic handheld console since it was the first time seeing one, it roughly caused him about the same amount of money as did buying a car.

"I'll pay you back as soon as I get in touch with my mom."

"No. Forget that. Go to the police, you've obviously been conned."

"Oh, I don't think so. I've made such a good deal at it! See! It even has (Naruto read the game title on the cartridge before refuting Ichigo) Tetris on it! Isn't it cool?" Naruto asked with stars in his eyes.

To this, Ichigo turned his head to Naruto and gave up. He gave an answer in monotone and with somehow less enthusiasm, "Yes, it's cool, what a great device."

The poor bastard, not only was he a country bumpkin, he was also gullible.

Ichigo could only shake his head as he walked away.

"Well I guess I'll be seeing you around then, Naruto. And I hope you pay me back soon."

Naruto grinned and gave a thumb up at Ichigo who only snickered.

"Naruto, that is so lame! Giving out a thumb up is really old fashioned!" Ichigo shouted, laughing as he got away before the blonde looked on to the four uniformed people from the corps.

He looked around, looking for the boy that was injured earlier and found him gone. A shame, that boy could have been interesting to talk to.

In that instant, Kakashi bowed to him, "Namikaze-sama, the section chief requests that you visit her today, she says it's something that concerns you."

Sasuke whispered to Sakura as they watched the scene from afar, "He's a member of the nine noble houses? I find that hard to believe."

Sakura simply rolled her eyes at this, yes, Namikaze-san (Naruto) tends to be an idiot, but his kind of idiocy was simply meant out of curiosity about the world around him. She guessed that Naruto didn't go out often.

"What is hard to believe, Mr. Bird Ass? The fact that his idiocy doesn't explain his 'noble' status or that his attire should be suggested that he lives in the Showa era fits his description down to a T." Sai helpfully added complete with a smile that crept Sasuke out. To this, the Uchiha turned his head away from the other boy and walked towards the commander.

"Are you suggesting that all rich kids are stupid, Sai?" Sakura asked

"I am not implying such, ugly. Only you could twist the statement that I've said and brought it out of context." Sai helpfully added.

"You're dead, art boy!" Sakura immediately hollered, reeling her right arm back as if to punch Sai into a broken heap.

"Sakura, stop it." Kakashi instantly commanded as the white haired man walked towards them, Naruto far behind as he waved at the new faces.

"Headquarters just called, Kakashi, they're anxious to know about the heir's condition." Sasuke notified, Kakashi simply waved off the boy and said, "He's fine. Tell them that we'll be reporting back now."

* * *

Shinobi Peacekeeping Corps, Konoha Branch:

Jiraiya hated wearing the damn suit; there was no doubt about it. He hated wearing that polyester tie simply because it felt like it was choking him; he hated the damn coat since it was effing hot outside. That and his former teammate, Tsunade planted a damn electrocuting device if ever his actions were sought fit with the punishment at hand (particularly peeping).

It wasn't as if he hadn't been doing it on purpose, he's been doing it for his sideline as a famous writer for years! He's unlike that particular lecher, Mizuki who constantly harassed his female teammates back then with gropes, thank God that douche was fired. If not, he would have flayed the damn pervert alive (Somewhere, somebody in the office shouted the word hypocrite).

Speaking of which, Jiraiya saw the troubled and sexy secretary that Tsunade had run off as if she was about to have a serious bathroom break. Whatever the girl had eaten, Jiraiya prayed she have good blessings on her arduous trial.

Inside his said teammate's office, he could hear a very loud voice (her teammate's) shouting at something, most likely the phone.

"I have my best men on the job working on it, Kushina. Don't worry about your kid!" Tsunade chastised, in her own, imposingly loud voice kind of way.

"_Yes_, Kushina, _I know_ about his situation as the heir. Minato explained it to the director and then to me back then. What do you mean he has the Jewel? He's WHAT?"

Oh boy, from the sound of that voice, it must be SOMETHING to be concerned about. Also, did he just hear the name, Kushina? As in the wife of his student, Minato? It's been a while since he had last spoken to the woman and even longer when he met Naruto, around five years to be exact.

"_Yes, _Kushina, he's already made contact to one of my teams. I'll let him call you once we get him here. _He's perfectly safe, _**DAMN IT!**" Tsunade yelled, smashing the phone on her desk and leaned back on her leather chair, massaging her temple.

"Want a penny for your thoughts?" The voice asked and Tsunade instantly groaned at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Jiraiya… What the hell are you doing in my office? Aren't you supposed to monitor the Rouges and gather information?" The busty woman asked.

The Rouges, as Tsunade had named, was a moniker Tsunade had given to any agent of the corps that had abandoned the organization. Most of them were low class thugs that nothing they couldn't handle. But occasionally, there would be a highly powerful member that would defect from their cause. Something that was to be left in the hands of Hunters, a task force designed to do as they are named, to hunt down rouges.

"If you must know, I came to inform you about the situation in Harajuku, it seems like a newly established group is starting to gain popularity in the underworld. From what I hear, they take missions from espionage to assassination. Pretty damn bold if they think this doesn't go by under our noses." Jiraiya mentioned as he sat down in front of the table, facing Tsunade.

"They call themselves, Oto (Sound), mostly made up of low grade thugs with pretty low grade levels for training. But that's not the real clincher here. Someone we know is running it, and he's made it known for a purpose." Jiraiya was frowning as he said this, leaning closer to the table where Tsunade frowned as well.

"Is it… Him?" Tsunade asked Jiraiya who simply nodded in confirmation.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure what he is planning isn't something good if he's letting information about his group seep through like a geyser."

Tsunade was silent for a moment before she said, "Continue with the investigation, Jiraiya. If so much as one of our officers goes down by these people, I'm organizing a raid with the SWAT team ASAP."

"We can't do that, Harajuku is under the administration of Suna, we can't issue orders of a tactical raid if Suna doesn't allow it. They have a say in matters and the current section chief from Suna hates and wants to compete against Konoha." Jiraiya reminded the woman who merely frowned at this.

It was then that her intercom had given a sound from the reception desk downstairs.

"Tsunade-sama, Namikaze Naruto-sama is here, would you like to meet him personally or shall you go down?"

"Tell him to wait for a few minutes before meeting him there. His mother has been worried shitless about his son running off with the Jewel of the Kyuubi."

"Yes, thank you, ma'am."

"Oh? Naruto's here, eh? Maybe I should greet the boy as well; I haven't had the chance to see him since he was twelve. So that's why your secretary was running full pace, I just thought she had a bowel problem or something." Jiraiya had mused and looked up, a feeling of nostalgia suddenly hit him as he grinned.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Minato make you the boy's godfather?" Tsunade asked, Jiraiya simply gave a smirk and added, "Yes, I was the one who gave the name, albeit indirectly, Minato loved my first book, after all."

"You mean Gutsy Ninja? It was the only thing remotely worth reading from your line of books. The rest should burn in a fire." Tsunade mentioned, to which Jiraiya looked downcast.

"The fifty million that bought those books would beg to differ, Tsunade." Jiraiya replied with a smug that just SLIGHTLY pissed Tsunade off.

"Yes and it just goes to show that there are fifty million perverts." Tsunade replied as they made it to the elevator.

* * *

Kurosaki Clinic:

Once Ichigo made it to his house that afternoon after spending the day doing nothing in particular, he plopped down on his bed and grumbled about his allowance simply drizzling out of his hands like sand. Damn blonde haired rich kid, if he wasn't so gullible he would have had no problem stuffing himself with food. As if it that wasn't enough, the image of that kid that had rubber arms with a stitch on his right cheek punching out an elephant like creature was so surreal, it felt like it was a manga of sorts. Ichigo sighed as he rolled on his back and looked at his ceiling.

Although it was weird, the day had some entertaining moments, in particular, Naruto's inadequate knowledge about city life and apparel. From what he could observe of the blonde, he barely goes out.

The orange haired teenager groaned, well it looks like another week of no money courtesy of a blonde that had no idea how to live in a city.

Ichigo looked out from his window and saw his sisters going back to the house waving at him. The orange haired boy waved back, looking down with a small smile and suddenly lurched forward when he felt something malicious escape from him. It felt like a thousand tons of steel was weighing him down. He was immediately on his knees when he felt it. Ichigo struggled to stand, he looked down below, towards his dad's clinic and suddenly saw smoke rising in it. Paling at this, Ichigo quickly went downstairs and saw the monster that he saw earlier giving an unholy screech as Yuzu and Karin were knocked unconscious, with a growl, Ichigo lunged forward and grabbed the bat from the side of the wall.

He couldn't really think of anything else, all he could really think about right now was protecting Karin and Yuzu. If it meant he could get that abomination away from them, it would be more than enough.

"Get away from my sisters, you son of a bitch!" Ichigo shouted, swinging the bat and hitting the creature straight at its snout, from the sudden onset of his strength, Ichigo watched in surprise as he saw the monster being hurled outside from the swing of his broken steel bat. Ichigo looked at his bat and scowled, how did that happen? Surely the most damage he could have dealt with would have annoyed that thing than actually hurt it.

The monster got up once again, exposing its now visible mouth full of molars and incisors as it screeched loudly from the wall that it was embedded on in the opposite street. Ichigo then shook his sisters to check if they were still alive, with a sigh of relief, he found them still breathing, he gently woke them up and told them to run.

"Get out of here, run and don't look back! I'll distract this guy while you two get away." Ichigo shouted, Karin, the dark haired girl of the two, wanted to ask why, Ichigo didn't give an answer, there was no room for that right now.

"Forget it, just go!" Ichigo shouted, Yuzu and Karin looked unsure before finally nodding.

"I won't let a bastard like you get near ANY of my siblings, got that?" Ichigo shouted, as he looked to his side and found the katana that his mother left them; he unsheathed it and found it to be in perfect shape, as it shined brightly from the reflection of the sun's orange light from the sunset as he ran over to the monster, who had slowly gotten up.

"SKREEEEEE!"

The monster gave another roar as Ichigo thrusts the sword forward, the monster swung its snout sideways and hit Ichigo perfectly on his side, sending him hurtling towards a lamp post. Ichigo writhed in pain as he tried to get up from his position. The monster stood before him growling beneath its white calcified mask.

"Ye, lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams, unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws, way of destruction number thirty three: Sokatsui (Blue Fire, Crash Down)!"

Ichigo saw a blue beam of light hitting the monster dead on at its side, sending it flying from the force of the explosion.

He saw the monster crashing towards a miniature fountain and cringed.

The neighbours weren't going to like that one.

The orange haired boy looked at his saviour, and saw she was wearing a black suit and a black office skirt while carrying a katana. Ichigo had to be really surprised though; did she really think she could fight well with heels on?

* * *

Another part of town, abandoned warehouse:

"Sanjiiii, I want to try elephant meaaat!" The boy complained, a blonde haired man that was smoking a cig as he leaned by a near wall. It had been a while since this boy came to their lives; they had been travelling together as a group with that red head thief and the perpetually lost and directionally inept swordsman that came from the mountains. It wasn't as if this teenager with the stitch on his face and the straw hat was particularly a compelling person to be with, he was just imposing on them again. Or at least that's what he liked to think, for the past month or so, they all had been imposing in on each other whenever they go to this abandoned warehouse. Every single one of them was annoying, well except for the chick that has a huge rack, he could get used to see her everyday and serve her meals, and massage her and then… Ehem, nevermind.

But the fact was most of them were annoying to be around with, particularly that quack inventor with a long nose and that moose that Luffy found during one of his senseless adventures. Apparently, it could talk; it was bipedal and stood only two feet tall. Until you realize that he can expand his muscles and grow past six feet.

"I told you Luffy, I meant that as a joke to get you to look around more, I am not going to cook elephant meat simply because I'd be imprisoned if I do." The blonde said as he now stood perfectly erect and said to the swordsman who was doing his routine of swinging a weighted stick for the past hour or two.

"Remind me again, why we are hanging out? I barely even know the sword freak and Pinocchio over there so why are we here?"

"Because you're all part of my crew!" Luffy simply replied, Sanji scratched the back of his head at this, talk about an over simplification.

"To put in terms that you can understand, Sanji-kun, Luffy-kun wanted us to be part of his gang for the sole purpose of ruling the Tokyo Underworld, in order to do that, he at least needs very dependable crew members on his side with unusual talents, like you having the ability to jump really high or Zoro-san having the stamina and strength of fifty men or Nami-san's thieving skills and foresight and of course, my genius and connections to the underground due to my father!" Ussop mentioned, as the small moose that wore a red top hat and red pants raised his hands or hooves.

"What about me?"

"Chopper, you're the mascot, of course!" Ussop jokingly added as Chopper looked like he was about to cry. Nami simply scowled at this and turned her head to the side, another cooped up day about nothing really, it had been a while since they've been caught in a commotion. The Arlong Park incident was a pretty damn gruesome gang war between them and one of the street kings, Arlong. It took a heck of a lot of work to cover their tracks for those members of the Peacekeeping corps to arrest them; so far, it was a progress worth boasting about. How often do you get to fool a HUNTER of all people?

She really didn't want to get involved in this whole mess, but she had no other choice, besides, she was grateful at Luffy and his friends, without them, her community would have suffered even further from that bastard, Arlong and the corps would have most likely left it alone until the Marines had intervened. Seriously, those guys were ready to take down Arlong and his gang with guns blazing.

"Ah, I'm just joking, Chopper! You're pretty useful as our physician and doctor! Without you, Nami would have seriously died from her ailment!" Ussop reminded, to which Nami wished the inventor hadn't brought it up. She really didn't like playing the damsel too often. Unless of course, there was some monetary compensation, then it was a different story altogether.

They then heard a loud crash from outside, on alert; Nami quickly got up from her seat and went out, finding a girl, heavily injured with wounds covering her body. What got her attention though, was the gold necklace that she wore and her long blue hair, she wore what looked like a very expensive tailor made dress.

Immediately she called the attention of their medic.

She realized that this was all too often a case of something so much more. Well at least she wouldn't be bored for now.

* * *

Shinobi Corps Headquarters, Konoha Sub Branch:

Naruto looked around, instantly amazed at the bustling staff members in the building, he hadn't seen this much people all around. Getting stuck at home was probably the cause of it.

"Wow, this place is packed with people." Naruto said as he looked up and saw only pillars and concrete above.

"This guy is a country bumpkin through and through." Sasuke muttered as he went away. Going straight to his part of the office, mainly on the second floor, Sakura followed suit and Sai went to the restroom.

"Welcome to our headquarters, Naruto-dono."

To this, the blonde turned to see the source of the voice and saw a blonde, busty female that wore a dark green business suit and an office skirt, leg high black stockings and a pair of lace sandals complimented her attire. Naruto inwardly whistled at the beautiful buxom figure that had a purple mark on her forehead.

He then looked to her back and saw a familiar, white haired man that had red markings on his face and wore a black suit.

"Ah, Ero-jiji! What are you doing here? It's been a long time since I last saw you! I didn't know you worked at the corps!" Naruto exclaimed walking over to the white haired man who groaned at the nickname he gained from the blonde boy.

"Must you keep calling me that? I really don't think it's good for my image to say that to me. And to answer your question, I was doing some work in Harajuku and Shizuoka. Got some problems there and will soon get back to my work by tomorrow; today's my day off, actually."

Tsunade snickered at the nickname her teammate got branded with, in a manner of speaking, that nickname fits. She was going to name him that from now on if Jiraiya kept his attitude up.

"Nope, I'll keep calling you that until you change your ways! Man this place is huge, bigger than my house, that's for sure!" Naruto exclaimed, Tsunade coughed in order to gain his attention and said, "Although I would like to keep this reunion longer, I believe there is another pressing matter we need to attend to."

Naruto turned around and looked at the woman and asked, "Yeah, what is it?"

Tsunade was about to lash out at the blonde for that callous comment when she remembered that this person was the heir on one of the Nine Noble Houses that kept funding their organization.

"It concerns your mother and the Jewel of the Kyuubi."

Naruto chuckled nervously at this as Tsunade handed him a phone.

"Here, call your mother; she said she wanted to know how you were doing." Tsunade mentioned, Naruto carefully grabbed the phone and dialled the number that her mother gave him.

"Hello, Tsunade? Did you call me because Naruto is there? I've been worried sick since he left home three days ago!"

The voice of his mother brought an unsure feeling from Naruto who didn't know what to say.

" Ugh… Mom?"

"Naruto, is that you? No, of course, silly me, it is you! Where have you been young man? You had me worried sick! Not only that, you took the Jewel of the Kyuubi with you! Do you know how much coffee I had been drinking ever since you were missing? The ceremonial rights to receive the jewel and its training are still two years away-tebane! You aren't allowed to hold the jewel until you gain mastery in it!"

"Um, well, you see… I noticed that you were so lonely a few days ago and kept staring at dad's picture so I thought it was best to go look for him and punch him for leaving us alone." Naruto answered unsurely, well, it was the truth anyway. He ran away from home looking for his father.

Silence reigned in between mother and son.

Finally, it was Kushina who spoke, "I'm thankful for you worrying about me, son. But your father promised he'd be back, have faith in him some more, why don't you? Besides, you don't get privilege to the first punch that goes to the wife-tebane!"

Naruto seemingly chuckled at this as he said, "I'm sorry, mom, I just thought that it would be better if we search for him ourselves. I just want to see him as much as you do."

Another moment of silence,

"Fine, you win, I'm letting you stay in the city for a while, but if after six months and your father is still missing, we are going home to wait for him, understand?"

Naruto looked questioningly at this, "We? What do you mean 'we'?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're a country boy, you don't know how to live in a city, so it's best I be there and guide you!" 

Naruto groaned at this, "Mom, I have Jiraiya-jiji over here, I'll be fine."

"ALL THE MORE REASON I GO THERE PERSONALLY AND WATCH OVER YOU!"

Naruto relented at this and finally gave in, "Okay, okay, you win."

"Okay, thanks, I love you, son!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin, "Okay, love you too, mom."

With that, he gave the phone to Tsunade who said to him in a grin, "That would be two thousand yen, please."

"What? For a measly phone call? Well, I guess, it's a private phone and the calls took longer than it originally did. But, I ah, blew my money on this really cool device that played this really cool game called Tetris and now I've completely spent my money." Naruto sheepishly said at this, as Jiraiya shook his head in amusement.

"Kid, welcome to the city."

* * *

To be continued…

Just a little something I've imagined from all the work I'm doing right now. Tell me what you all think about this and if I should continue it, and yes, I'm starting the One Piece side of the story in Arabasta Arc since most of the awesome factor of One Piece started there.


	2. Over the Top

Chapter Two: Over the Top

* * *

Ichigo felt like a total loon when he saw the girl unsheathe her blade and saw how she managed to cut that monster's right foreleg off. The blade glistening in the afternoon sun with its bright orange colour before she took another stance and cut off the monster's rear left leg in a dash.

When the monster fell down, she stretched her right hand in an open palm and began chanting once more.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Way of Destruction number Thirty-One: Shakkaho! (Red Flame Canon)"

Out of her open palm shot out a red energy orb that struck the monster that was on the ground as it was engulfed from the conflagration, blasting the said monster to the ground. Ichigo looked on in surprise as he watched the monster writhe in pain from the inferno it was engulfed into seeing as it flailed its remaining appendages in pain. The woman stared down rather impassively at the monster as Ichigo stared in utter confusion.

His day was just getting weirder and weirder.

Not only did he see a boy able to extend his arm like rubber and smashing his fist on the monster like how a ten wheeler truck often slams into a wall, he saw another boy who can bounce on walls like a damn pinball.

Somehow, he was going to be part of a world much bigger than he thought.

Perhaps he was living every boy's dream of being a main character in a manga?

"Pssh… Yeah, right." Ichigo scoffed at this and held stood up as he watched the girl that was a foot shorter than her, tackle sheathed her sword and went over to him to check his injuries.

"Are you alright?" She asked in a serious manner as she began going for her pocket and pulled out a small handkerchief. Ichigo merely nodded as she wiped some of the blood on his face. Damn, he had forgotten about that, between remembering all of the crazy things that he had seen today and THIS particular event, he could simply find no words to speak.

"If so then…" She held her sword high and looked like she was about to strike him down with her sword, Ichigo held his hands up, jumped back and shouted.

"Hold on right there! What in the name of all that is good are you doing?" Ichigo asked, he then jumped back and held out his hands forward and unsheathing his katana. The girl, curious at the sudden draw of the blade, scowled at the boy as she asked,

"How did you get hold of it?" She told Ichigo, for she had felt a faint signal of spiritual power coming from the sword that he held. Ichigo didn't answer.

"That sword isn't a normal katana! Give it here, now!" The girl warned, Ichigo answered her, "After holding that sword high against me? No thanks, I'll take my chances with this thing than with you."

The girl looked like at the boy with worry written on her face as Ichigo kept holding it with both his hands. The girl shouted at him, "I was only about to administer a simple tap to the forehead for you to forget about what happened just now with the bottom hilt!"

This time, Ichigo, whose mind was trying to process all of the crazy shit that had happened today, declined at the gesture of the woman simply because of one thing. "If you think most of the crap I've seen are freaky now and deserved to be suppressed to the back recesses of my mind, you should have been with me earlier!"

It was then that Ichigo pointed his sword at the woman, "So with that in mind, you guys can all go screw yourselves at your protocol! If just in case these attacks come again to my family, I know who exactly to blame for being lazy on the job!"

When the woman was about to retort, the sudden sky rocket of spiritual energy had alarmed her when she felt a powerful push from the side of her body, in surprise, she saw that monster ploughing its way with her with its hard and calcified mask as a battering ram sending her crashing through a concrete telephone pole and through a wall.

With a gasp of pain, the girl looked up as the monster who is now screeching just above her. She hadn't thought that this monster was as resilient as they come, that and it had a regeneration rate like crazy, grew its legs in just a matter of minutes and managed to survive her spells. She knew she had to release her Zanpakuto at that point, but it was too late now, she was too weak to move…

Until Ichigo had managed to bulldoze his way towards the monster as it was blown away from Ichigo's shoulder thrust sending the monster skidding towards another concrete wall. Man he hoped the neighbours wouldn't see him. If they did they were sure to hate him for causing such private property damage.

"You okay?" Ichigo asked as he looked down on the girl that had a bleeding forehead, she struggled to look at the boy that was standing before her.

"I've been worse." She replied. Ichigo scoffed at this. This is what you get for fighting with heels on. Seriously, don't girls find it hard to fight with those things stabbing the soles of their foot and had to maintain an awkward balance? When he finds an eligible girlfriend, the first thing he has to find in her house was a pair of high heels. If they did have them, then he was going to bolt.

It was then that the monster he had based shoulders with earlier got up and sounded like he was pissed beyond reason. He didn't know what to do right now seeing as the woman was the only person that had the capability to deal with this bastard. But it seemed she knew something about this sword that his mother left. So the boy with orange hair asked her, "Hey, you, just what is this sword and can you tell me what's so special about it?"

The girl replied with a hoarse voice, "It's called a Zanpakuto, a sword that can slay monsters like these called Hollows. However in order to wield them properly, you'd need to have a good grasp of reiatsu first."

"Spiritual Pressure? Well then, tell me how to use that." The boy asked, keeping his eye on his opponent as she said, "It takes years to awaken the inner potential of simply accessing it. It's impossible the way it is now."

"What? You're telling me this sword is a piece of crap? What the hell are we supposed to do now? We don't have years to finish this thing off!" Ichigo interjected while the woman shook her head.

"There is, however, another way to do it. But you're going to have to trust me if you want to kill that thing." She answered; Ichigo looked at her curiously at this and then turned back at the monster who was charging at them like a rampaging bull. Ichigo widened his center of gravity by shifting to a lower stance and focused on the monster. The girl grabbed her sword aimed its blade directly at Ichigo's back before applying enough spiritual pressure and thrusting it into Ichigo.

When Ichigo felt something piercing him, the boy with the orange hair looked down and saw the tip of the blade going through his heart. What was surprising however was that he neither saw, tasted nor smelled blood that escaped. Instead, he felt hot, like there was something entering his body that was about to burst, he felt stronger all of a sudden and then looked back at the girl who smirked.

"Live spiritual pressure activates spiritual energy when administered inside a living human. Thus, the energy that is latent in that human becomes activated and the person becomes spiritually aware." When she said those words, Ichigo looked back when he saw his chest wound were it was supposed to be bleeding because of the hole a few minutes ago, now completely closed as he felt his body was filled with energy to the brim.

He looked at his sword, now seeing it contort into a blue light before seeing the guard of his blade expanding as the beam of light began expanding and expanding until he saw a large silvery blade, almost as tall as him. What was surprising was that it wasn't even heavy at all; it felt different, almost as light as a feather!

With a fierce look in his eyes, he turned his sights back on to the monster and held the blade by his shoulder.

"I don't see the point of dragging this on further so…" Ichigo then reeled his arm back with the sword just at his back and said, "Get the hell away from my sisters, you creep."

Ichigo then answered, his movement had suddenly changed as he had sped to the monster faster than he expected. He went low and slashed the monster's two right legs like knife through butter. Ichigo looked at his sword and whistled, a few moments earlier, he couldn't even make that thing bleed. But with this big ass sword in his hands, he could literally feel a big difference from what he was earlier, a useless slob of mess. He inwardly smirked at this and turned around, the big ass katana felt like it was cutting the wind about him, it was thrilling and down right awesome! He never knew how this sword contained this much power!

With quick haste, Ichigo had lunged forward, the tip of his giant sword aiming at its mask. Ichigo then thrust the sword forward straight to the white, bony mask of the said monster and going through to the other end of the head as both of them stood still for a few seconds before it finally fell to the ground when Ichigo ungracefully hacks the monster's face like how a butcher slices through meat.

The monster didn't even yelp in pain this time as it dropped to the ground in a lifeless heap before disintegrating like sand as its mask cracks and its pieces fall onto the ground.

The orange head turned back to the woman who was now leaning against the wall as Ichigo pointed a finger at her, "You've got a lot of explaining to do…"

He wanted answers, damn it!

* * *

Unknown location, abandoned warehouse:

Well, there was definitely something wrong with human society today if they were allowing a two feet tall talking reindeer to give medical attention to a heavily injured girl. At least, that's what Nami thought as she watched Chopper do his thing with the sterile gauze, bandages and coagulants. Good thing there weren't any deep lacerations, or else she would've watched the girl scream in agony as Chopper would have drove that surgical needle when they had no anaesthetic right now. Courtesy of Luffy fooling around with it which she beat him up for it. Funny thing though, Luffy's face was as round, swollen and as red as a basketball after she beat him up and he wasn't even feeling a thing.

"There… That should take care of it for now, I'm really surprised though. She looks like someone who shouldn't be hanging around out here." Chopper said worriedly as he put his medical equipment away. Sanji looked impressed at the talking moose for another time. The little guy had enough brain power to become a full fledged doctor, and he was a moose for god's sake! While over to their side, they had their fearless leader who was running around the warehouse with his face swollen up like a balloon, a seemingly lazy ass swordsman who had no basic sense of direction to save his life and a quack inventor with practically no common sense.

"Luffy, get down from there, that's an important support column in this place!" Nami shouted as Sanji had to facepalm himself.

They were doomed.

"But still, for a girl like her to wind up here, it must be something really serious. She looks like one of those spoiled kids from Yakuza families." Zoro mentioned as he leaned by one of the doorways, obviously perturbed at this, no way someone that looked prim as this would ever wind up in this side of town. She'd be dead in no time. Perhaps she was being persecuted? If so, for what reasons?

Ussop scratched his head as he tinkered with another one of his inventions, most likely, something for Nami to use when they were in a fight as he said, "That's a good theory, another good theory is that this girl has just escaped the clutches of a savage animal from another dimension and was sent here through a wormhole that bent the fabric of time and space itself!"

Nami sighed at this; of course, the long nosed inventor had no common sense. Why did she even let that weirdo into their conversation?

"Really? That would be so cool of it happened!" Said Luffy who was now by their side and was looking rather excited at the thought of something he couldn't really comprehend.

Forget that, she would rather let Ussop do the talking now rather than be with Luffy. The boy was simply stupid. And it looked like their conversations always dumb down because of their 'infallible' leader's way of interacting with them.

Sanji sighed once more and popped out a cigarette.

"Oi, you're a minor, you aren't supposed to smoke here, Sanji." Chopper warned the blonde rather sternly. The blonde simply ignored this and said, "Stupid matters aside, how are we going to watch over this girl, is the question."

"Why is that?" Asked Luffy, Sanji's eyebrow twitched. Luffy was damn annoying during one of these conversations. Thankfully, it was Nami who answered for him along with a condescending insult.

"You idiot, it's obvious that we need to watch over this girl while we're at school, remember? Although Chopper is always here and we always bring him food, we can't always count on him if Zoro and my suspicions are correct! Chopper can handle himself, sure, but unlike some of you, he's not exactly as good as a fighter as either of you three!" Nami pointed to Sanji, Zoro and Luffy. Sanji simply grinned at this and said, "Nami-chan, your compliment flatters me."

The blonde then blushed as Zoro scoffed at this, trust Sanji to let his dick do the talking for him. And he was the one with the problems, how?

"Fear not, my friends! For I have the perfect surveillance and counter-measure equipment ready! It's so fool proof, that even Luffy wouldn't even be able to suddenly crash this down!" Said the long nosed inventor and sniper as he went typing into a laptop that he had been carrying for a while. His attention was turned back to the LCD screen of his laptop while the rest had a very bad feeling about it (except for Luffy). Of course they were worried! Luffy was a complete idiot!

"Er, you do know the saying that completely fool proof plans aren't exactly immune to complete fools, right?" Nami asked, to this, Sanji and Zoro nodded at the same time.

"I have to agree with Nami-chan here, Ussop, maybe it's better if we stick to basic traps and passwords." Sanji helpfully added as his words (and Nami's) completely fell on deaf ears.

"Nonsense, this is for the best of our place, people, we need this system! If indeed we are going to face Yakuza, then we at least need to be prepared to be systematic as well!" Ussop insisted.

To Nami, it sounded logical, but they had a strange factor in the form of their leader. As such, she wasn't too keen on the idea of Ussop's plan. But nonetheless, the young inventor had a point. "Look, its Luffy we're talking about here, he isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed."

"Hey, I take offense to that! What's with all the idiot remarks?" Luffy questioned. Zoro simply shook his head in dismay as he said, "It's not really something that we don't know. But I'm not really at ease with that statement, Ussop."

"Fine, I'll see what I can do to help both protect Chopper and this place! I won't let this thing be filled with Bullet holes! I've had enough problems dealing with fixing the walls Luffy trashed the other day." Ussop finally relented as he sighed in defeat and finished encoding in his laptop. His set up for the mainframe on the security was complete, now he just needed the material to finish some of the things needed to be done.

The others continued to talk things over until they decided to finally head home.

* * *

Shinobi Peacekeeping Corp, Konoha branch, one day later:

It was hard sleeping on the couch in the section chief's office. Although it was a nice alternative compared to the hard wood of the park benches that he slept on for the past two days, he still couldn't get used to not sleeping in a bed. The blonde blamed it all on his upbringing. Not from his mother, as she would often tell him that they both need to go out camping sometime, but to the elders that reside in their home. He would be in the manor for most of the time and he would be refused to be let out. The elders were cautious around the heir; they wanted him to be perfectly safe as he was an essential part in maintaining order into their country. Without him, the country would be utterly destroyed. His father, the former heir, gave him the jewel signifying his place in the clan as the heir apparent. Details were pretty difficult to understand as to why his father did that and vanished without a trace. Perhaps his mother knew why he left? Giving up the jewel as the holder of the Kyuubi meant one thing.

Stepping down as the current head and entrusting it to a new one. Many of his elders thought it was utterly crazy for him to give it up just like that. Normally it would take two generations to do so.

He couldn't even fathom as to what was going on in the mind of his father back then. He asked his mother about it but she seemed far too unwilling to give out a reason. He wanted answers, he was the heir after all and the effect of his father stepping down meant he was now the holder of the Kyuubi's jewel.

He sighed as he got up from the couch as the sun rose and lit the window with its bright rays, shining on the blonde who squinted and shielded his blue eyes from its blinding light.

He knew his mother was going to arrive sooner or later this day and everyone who had been on nightshift that was expecting a long night of sleep and relaxation actually scrambled around the office and began preparing for the arrival of Namikaze Kushina, wife and attendant of Namikaze Minato, the former Section Chief before his disappearance.

Naruto stretched and yawned in a rather undignified manner as he walked outside the office with his duffle bag on his shoulders as he headed down, it was eight in the morning and he felt his stomach grumble in accordance to his mood. He was hungry right now and had no money. Damn his curiosity of the city!

With a heavy sigh, Naruto sluggishly went down the elevator and politely asked any of the current corps members that were assigned today to show him where the cafeteria was.

Many of the members politely pointed out the designation of the said part of the building as he gave them a thank you and happily walked towards the place. Once he reached the place, he saw some familiar faces in the form of Sakura and Sasuke, Kakashi was sitting on a different table and his face was glued to a book while talking to a man that had a beard and a woman with red eyes and a scowl on her face while she stared at Kakashi. Why she did that, Naruto didn't want to know for fear of consequences so he decided to let it drop. As he approached at the front, he was becoming increasingly aware that he did not know any of these people aside from the four yesterday, Jiraiya and Tsunade. He did not know anyone else.

When he went out front to state his order, he was greeted by an old man who had a smiling face.

"Ah, what can I get you, Namikaze-sama?"

Naruto flinched at that. He didn't like being called with an honorific like that. He hated being called like that, probably because it reminded him to much of the manor.

"A bowl of Chashu Ramen, Oji-san! I'm really hungry today!" Naruto mentioned loudly and gave a huge grin.

"Ramen for breakfast? Well now, that's something I haven't heard of in my years as a cook here! Consider it free of charge for now, Namikaze-sama!" Mentioned the cook and he went back from the counter while Naruto immediately sat on a table, with not even a tray in his hands.

Everyone looked at him curiously at this as the blonde continued to hum a tune from his lips while awaiting his favourite dish. He never noticed that three pairs of eyes were staring at him who were all sitting on the same table as him.

"Um… You forgot your order back there, Namikaze-sama." Replied the girl that had her hair held up in buns, the blonde looked confused at this and asked, "Really? I thought that they always bring you food not get them. I mean, isn't that messed up?"

The boy with the white eyes simply closed them and shook his head as he replied to the heir apparent, "No, Namikaze-sama, this is an inverse due to the low number of people in the cafeteria, waiters aren't available as it isn't needed."

"Wow, I didn't know that… Maybe I should list this down next time I'm here." Naruto mulled this over to himself as he walked back into the ordering table where the old man had his ramen ready to go. The one who had a bowl cut for a head was looking somewhat enthused.

"Yosh! Such an untainted spirit Namikaze-san has! I cannot believe how naïve one such as he in the ways of our city! We must teach him with the ways of urban lifestyle, my youthful comrades!" Lee shouted as Tenten suddenly jumped back while Neji groaned in annoyance and massaged his temples.

"Tenten, please order a cool glass of water for me? I feel like I might need that aspirin sooner than I thought."

Tenten sighed at this as Lee noisily began spouting off his youth speeches. Naruto, who by now couldn't eat his ramen in peace, decided to shift to a new table. When he sat down, he helpfully indulged himself in his beloved bowl of noodles and not let the whole world bother him in that moment.

Once he finished his ramen he looked around at the different people that were either sitting or were walking, they were all talking to each other with either smiles or frowns, one group was even huddled closer. To his left, he saw that boisterous young man with the bowl cut being escorted out of the cafeteria as he was spouting off something about the springtime of youth. The blonde looked curiously at this as he then heard a loud crash to the other side, when he saw the familiar face of Sasuke who was glaring at Sai. The Uchiha's eyes were already turned into a bloody colour with three tomoe spinning in each eye. If Naruto remembered correctly, the Uchiha clan was one of their family's vassals. Something about them serving under their clan since way back then.

"Take that back, Sai." Sasuke mentioned, his voice was indicative enough of a treat.

"That your heartless brother left you for a witch hunt? Or that your former master left you to rot here while he chases his trivial ambitions?" Sai said callously as he remained that perpetual smile of his. Sasuke's scowl deepened further as he looked like he was going to deck the pale boy any second.

"Orochimaru can die for all I care. But my brother left me for a reason. Both of us just have two different ways to do it." Sasuke mentioned, he didn't like anyone badmouthing his brother since the death of their parents.

Out of sheer responsibility for their parents' honour, Itachi stated to him that he had to pursue the culprit and bring justice to his own hands. He left Sasuke in the care of their uncle and auntie just three days before he was never heard from again.

"That's enough, both of you! We're going to be patrolling any minute now and we need to behave accordingly now. Kakashi-taicho is expecting a good performance out of the team today." Sakura chastised as Sasuke simply scoffed at this and left the cafeteria while Sai went back to his seat and ate his meal.

Naruto looked curiously at the trio as murmurs began circulating around the three people that made the scene.

"Whoa, it's THAT team again."

"Team Seven, right? They say they have the worst record in history as cadets!"

"I don't know why Kakashi-sempai puts up with them as commander, what a waste of his talent."

"Hush! Two of them happened to be apprenticed to two of the Sannin. And that pale boy Sai came from one of Danzo's elite guards. Don't take them lightly!"

"You seem to have been swallowed by the hype. If their records were enough indication, I say their masters never did their job right."

Naruto scowled at this as he heard enough, he needed to get out. These people were like those old crones back home, they could never think of anything other than to criticize him under such indifferent eyes. The people here were no different.

As he got out of the cafeteria, he was met with three very curious people that were staring at him as if he was some weird otaku or something. There was someone that had the droopiest set of eyes he had ever seen, topped with a flat look that screamed indifferent to the world and a ponytail, which, with the couture of his face, looked like a pineapple. Then there was this rather husky looking fellow that had red hair standing on the back of his head and had his uniform slightly modified with padded armour, he looked like a porcupine, a really fat one at that. His long red hair reached up until his knees as he had a bag of chips in his hand. Then there was this blonde girl that looked just as cute as the first girl he saw here, the one with pink hair. It was a shame she was hiding half of her face with her long bangs.

"Can I help you?" Naruto asked, looking rather worried that he had been noticing the attention was slowly turning to him.

"We should be asking that question along with what is a civilian doing here wearing clothes that make him look like he's Showa Kamen Rider's alter ego." Said the one that looked like a pineapple while the blonde noted a very small distinction to the other two; the brunette had a small badge on the right chest pocket of his black uniform. Naruto thought this guy was the superior to the two people with him. He noticed Kakashi had this as well, although he had a pair of stars on his shoulders as an added ornament. He thought that ranking officers have badges as proof of their superiority in the chain of command here.

"I'm Namikaze Naruto, I've been asked to stay here for the night by Tsunade because I don't have money on me right now. Sorry for intruding all of a sudden!" He said with a sheepish grin, obviously embarrassed at his current situation, the boy with the ponytail had a raised eyebrow at this.

He had recognized the name, Namikaze. It wasn't exactly a secret in the corps that it was the most prestigious and most powerful clan of the Nine Noble Houses of Kyoto. It was one of the financers of the corps because of their unbelievable prestige and power within the country, that and many families of shinobi were sworn under the Namikaze household. Take for instance, their clan, the Nara. Their abilities were a gift from the Namikaze, whose founding father was taught by an almost mythical person, along with nine other people, the way of the Shinobi.

It was such an unusual thing for a member of a clan, who has enough power to maintain their organization afloat, become utterly penniless.

"I don't believe you for one bit." Said the boy, he looked at Naruto with a steel gaze as he then added, "You don't act like a noble, your posture's too easygoing, you slouch and your clothes don't make you look dignified for one bit."

His hands were in his pants pocket at this as his comrades leaned down slightly when the pineapple headed boy's shadow began extending and contorting to small tendrils.

"Civilians are only allowed at the front desk, anything else and it's considered trespassing, it's a grave offense here since our corps demands that confidentiality be maintained. So it's either you're stupid enough to wander here on your own forgetting all the signs that says 'Only Authorized Personnel are Allowed' or you're a spy from this new group called Oto that I've been hearing about lately." Said the one in the middle as Naruto chastised him and showed him his wallet.

"I-I've got proof I'm the real deal! See? This even has my number in it!" Naruto stuttered, he clearly did not want to fight, simply because he felt that there was no need for it to be like that.

But he knew that if worst came to worst, he would have no choice but to settle the dispute with self defence.

City people are such assholes!

When the boy was about to let his shadow extend to Naruto who was ready to jump back, they paused when they heard someone shout at the top of their lungs.

"Stop it, all of you!" Demanded the thundering voice in the hallways, the four looked at the source of the voice as non other than the busty blonde section chief that was looking at them with a serious expression plastered on her face while her hazel brown eyes were looking fiercely at her subordinates.

"Nara Shikamaru, stand your ground. This person is the real deal; he's the real Namikaze Naruto, the heir of the Namikaze bloodline. You should know your place here, sergeant." She sternly warned, Shikamaru merely gave off an annoyed grunt and turned his head sideways. The other two gave a salute as Tsunade mentioned they be at ease.

"The Namikaze Household wouldn't take too kindly of you threatening their one and only heir at the moment." Tsunade added plus he owed her money too, no way would she let this opportunity go to waste.

"I'm sorry we tried to attack you, Namikaze-sama!" Mentioned the red head as Naruto shrugged it off, the girl that had half of her face covered with her long blonde hair added, "We were not informed that you were here visiting our humble branch!"

"Don't sweat it guys; half of it was my fault, I blew my money away for this cool gadget that lets me play Tetris! Let me tell you, it was such a sweet deal!" Naruto explained as he told how much it cost him. The one in the middle now known as Shikamaru and his two companions had a bead of sweat at the back of their heads.

'_How can spending your money on an outdated crap that costs as much as a car be called a sweet deal?'_

All three of them thought at the same time, realizing that the heir was either incredibly stupid or incredibly gullible.

As Naruto went on and defined the specs, Shikamaru leaned on the latter's idea rather than the former.

"Er, Namikaze-sama, forgive me for countering your opinion, but I think you've been duped. I've been to countless electronic shops and I've seen the prices just range from three thousand to four thousand yen in Akihabara." Said the girl with the bangs reasoning that Naruto that he was actually conned rather easily.

Naruto suddenly stopped there for a moment and let the information sink into his mind before finally realizing that he had just blown away his allowance he had been saving for nearly a month on a gadget he could've bought easily cheap in Akihabara!

"But… But… But I…" The blonde stuttered at this and looked like a fish that had been drained of water. He looked pale as he had realized the mistake of his actions.

His mom was going to kill him!

"Akimichi Chouji, Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru, you three are dismissed, go get your meals and be ready for patrol, Captain Asuma will be your commanding officer today." Mentioned Tsunade as she went up followed by the blonde who had his back slouched from the sheer stupidity that he had been in for the last three days.

Once the two were out of sight, Shikamaru looked in a mildly amused tone in his voice as he said, "Now there's something you don't see everyday."

"Talk about the opposite of a prince charming." Ino mentioned, she had always thought that those that came from the nine noble houses were well, NOBLE. As in benevolent, upright, chivalrous and near perfect! Not laid back, imbecilic and utterly gullible! It was the opposite of what she expected, coming from their part!

It was then that the intercom around the building made its announcement.

"Attention, all personnel from cadets to captains, please make an appearance at the front desk immediately. Tardiness is ill advised, so that means you, Hatake-san!"

"So much for breakfast." Chouji commented in dismay and he was looking forward to it as well.

Front Desk:

Many of the officers of the corps stood up front with the higher ranking officers standing nearer to the door while the cadets on duty were further away. Standing tall and erect, they stomped the ground mildly with their feet in perfect unison before giving a salute as a black Honda Civic opened its left rear door and out came an old man with white hair and goatee in a suit of ebony and white undershirt complimented with a red tie. His age spots and wrinkles identified him as very old, but from the way he was walking, he could at least be twenty years younger, there wasn't any form of shifting feet or even jittering from his hands and feet.

He walked quietly and with a dignified look as he headed straight towards the busty blonde chief who stood at the end of the line and was also giving a salute of her own.

"Director Hiruzen Sarutobi, welcome to the Konoha Branch. I assume that you had a much enjoyable time at Kiri Branch?"

The old man simply chuckled at this and said, "Yes, the section chief there was very accommodating. She insists, however, that she step down now since she feels the need to find a suitable lover. I'm sure she'll get used to it in time, just like with you. And no need to be so formal, Tsunade, your teacher is maybe here to inspect the facility that he once ran, but he also wants to see his student."

Sarutobi was a fierce man. Being the former section chief from Konoha, Hiruzen knew the place like the back of his hand. He was a person worthy of respect and his status as director of the corps only serve as a testament to his skill.

He had recognized a few of the members that had grown up. Particularly Kakashi who had his face covered by a mask and had an eye patch on his left eye and his son who had grown a beard like he did.

Sarutobi looked around and saw a boy with spiky yellow hair pass him by wearing what seems to be a set of clothing designed from the Showa era.

It wasn't surprising to see fifteen year olds joining the corps, in fact it was a voluntary service done by members of the families under the establishment of the Nine Noble Houses and although it was voluntary, all of its aspiring candidates had to undergo rigorous training and tests. Not only that, being a teacher, Sarutobi advocated education on each of his subordinates. He had seen the effects of what a good education can give hand in hand with this job.

When the blonde boy managed to go to the restroom, Sarutobi couldn't help but chuckle, it reminded him too much of his successor back then. Although nostalgic, he never once mistook the boy, who was now exiting the comfort room with a contented face, to the one he knew likely well to be related.

"Ah, Minato-kun's son, I presume?"

To this, Naruto's eyes suddenly changed expression from relief to surprise.

"You knew my father?" Naruto asked as he looked suddenly enthused when the old man merely gave a small chuckle.

"Everyone older than twenty in this branch knows your father, boy, Minato wasn't actually a very well hidden man." Hiruzen mused as Naruto's eyes widened once more.

"Then do you know where he is right now?" Naruto asked again to this, Sarutobi simply shook his head with a smile.

"I'm sorry, but his disappearance is a mystery that no one here seems to have the capability to solve right now." Sarutobi bowed, to this, Naruto sighed and bowed his head in defeat.

"I have heard from your mother that you decided to seek your father, yes? It was why you ran away." The old man inquired, to which, Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I needed to find my old man, just for my mother." Naruto gave that sincere reply with a small smile as the old man gave a smile of his own.

"I'm sure you'll find him, eventually, Japan isn't exactly large enough that you have to search for more than a decade." Sarutobi jokingly added, to which Naruto simply grinned.

"That reminds me, unspoken tradition states that none of the vassals of the Nine Noble Houses should see the heir until his succession ceremony, not even a betrothed is allowed to see him until their eighteenth birthday. I suppose your mother is very vexed about the elders' criticism to such 'irresponsible folly'." Hiruzen stated, Naruto could only tilt his head to his side in confusion at this. That's because he simply couldn't comprehend Sarutobi's deep vocabulary. To which, Tsunade interpreted for him.

"He means your mom is most likely annoyed at the old crones back at your home for saying destructive criticism against you."

Sarutobi chuckled once more at this and placed a hand to hold his chin to think, "Interesting, it seems that the boy is more at home with normal and slang terms rather than very complex ones… Interesting, most interesting indeed… Could it be that you don't listen to your etiquette lessons, Naruto?"

To this the blonde gave a scoff and said, "Never listened to them, always told me to be respectful and formal and all that. I don't see much of the point of it if I can't even go outside and see some people for once. Besides, I think I won't be doing any formal interactions with people anytime soon."

"DAMN RIGHT YOU AREN'T-TEBANE!"

Naruto instantly froze at this as he recognized that voice, he turned back towards the other end of the long empty hallway and saw Kushina, wearing a fiery red Kimono with designs of dark red wisps and camellias and a yellow obi was walking towards them with her sleeves rolled up as she went to her son who was now cowering behind a slightly amused Tsunade.

As Kushina loomed over him with that dark aura of his, Naruto nervously waved at his mother and said, "Hi, mom… Did I ever tell you how much I love you and how beautiful you are today?"

Kushina simply gave a sneer at this. Naruto began sweating bullets.

* * *

Kurosaki Family clinic:

It was nice to have seen some of the neighbourhood's orderliness back for now. That material that the girl named Rukia used earlier was something. It reversed any damage dealt by a hollow for the past twenty four hours. Quite a surprise, really, that and the katana he used, once he reached for its tsuba, had suddenly shrunk and turned into a normal sized Katana.

The two of them were now inside the clinic and the orange haired boy began piling up questions one by one. The girl named Rukia simply tried to answer any question as best as she could when Ichigo kept pestering her with those inquiries that sounded like he was interrogating her.

"So let me get this straight, those things called Hollows are attracted to people with high levels of spiritual power. People who normally see ghosts are the ones most prone to these things as they have higher spiritual awareness than normal people do?" Ichigo questioned, to which the girl with the very badly drawn pictures in a sketchbook nodded. Ichigo shook his head and said, "You know, if you're going to explain things to me like a teacher would at a day care, then I suggest you do a better job at your drawings."

"Well excuse ME for drawing cute furry animals to try and let you take it in better!" She replied, Ichigo simply shrugged it off.

"No, that usually involves me slowly piecing the information together. And what's up with the cat?"

"It's a rabbit." Rukia corrected.

"Whatever. Look, the point is that there were strange people that I just met a few hours ago who could either stretch their arms at impossible length or bounce on walls and jump on roofs like it was hop scotch, let me take this info on my own!" Ichigo shouted, damn woman, can't she see she was bothering him with all of this non-essential hoi polloi about all of the questions he needed to be answered?

Those stupid props and illustrations were counter productive for him, damn it!

"Oh, you want to know about the New Breed and the Shinobi?"

"The new what and the what?"

It was then that Rukia started drawing once more in her picture book. Ichigo had a bead of sweat falling from the back of his head as he threatened Rukia, "Stop treating me like a five year old or I'll burn you with a soldering iron."

His threat went fallen on deaf ears as Rukia began making her drawings while she started, "The New Breed are beings born with extraordinary powers due to the massive exposure to spiritual energy around them. Usually happens during their childhood and manifests throughout adolescence or pre-pubescent years. At least, that's the theory."

To this she showed crude drawings of a rabbit and a cat this time who were standing by each other with the cat flexing its tiny forearms like how musclemen tend to show off their buff selves.

"What's with the lemur?"

"IT'S A CAT!"

"…Whatever."

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, New Breeds gain unusual powers through the overexposure of spiritual energy. It's like they were born with a highly adaptable gene because the spiritual energy around them continuously tries to enter their bodies and messes with their physical systems, thus, forcing the blank gene to be programmed with something that makes them superhuman like. There are three types of them, Logia, Paramecia and Zoan" Rukia mentioned, Ichigo scratched the back of his head and looked up, obviously confused, "I don't get it, those superhuman feats that I saw earlier weren't really spiritual, if it were, like you said, people like us who can see ghost because of our spiritual awareness could feel that they have some sort of spiritual power."

Rukia nodded at this and said, "That's why I said it was a mere theory, it can't prove anything yet it can't be also disproven unless we can figure out what causes the New Breeds."

"So it's just a guess then?"

"An INTELLIGENT guess, of course." Rukia mentioned, her patience wearing thin.

"Great, so I don't know what that rubber idiot actually is… Can you tell me about these, Shinobi then? Aside from the usual stereotypical ninja that I know, I don't really see them act like Ninja." Ichigo requested while Rukia nodded her head.

"Basically, the order of the Shinobi is founded by a religion. Or if you want to put it in terms that you want to easily relate to, a cult."

"A WHAT?" Ichigo asked incredulously.

"That's right, more precisely, Buddhism and Folklore. The Shinobi believe that in Kyoto, a certain beast lays dormant with its soul being sealed in a rock. Details are very obscure, but according to my commander, the teaching and order of the Shinobi is founded by a single priest who was said to have walked all six realms of reincarnation." Rukia flipped the page and showed a teddy bear wearing a pair of long robes and a Shaku staff with its arms raised and stretched outwards.

Ichigo squinted slightly, and noted that the beaver was actually the priest that Rukia was talking about.

"So it's a Buddhist/Hindu concept then." Ichigo commented while looked utterly confused at this.

"Yes, it confused me too, but apparently this priest gave the foundation of the teachings in using their abilities today to nine people who would later establish the Nine Noble Houses that you knew today. The Shinobi Corps is an organization mostly made up of volunteer soldiers coming from said families and its vassals who are normally exempted from some of the legislative orders since they can have teenagers become a part of their organization. Most of them are vassals of the Nine Noble houses and the most prominent of those houses is the Namikaze seeing as they are the ones with the most vassals in their household and were the ones who singlehandedly established the Konoha Branch here. You'd be surprised how these people are keenly supported by the government in order to maintain peace."

"And? What about you guys?" Ichigo inquired, looking at the girl with a questioning gaze, Rukia looked slightly unnerved at this as she looked to her side and sighed, finally saying to Ichigo.

"We work under the Emperor of Japan as an elite fighting force to combat Hollows. We call ourselves, Shinigami."

Aw, hell no!

* * *

Shinobi Corps, Main Office, Central Tokyo:

It had been a tiring day for Sarutobi Hiruzen's part to have monitored the five main branches of the organization. He sat on his large leather chair and sighed in relief as he pulled out his trusted pipe and began smoking. A feeling of relief escaped from him as he looked up and said, "The appearance of an heir, eh? It sounds as if something is likely to happen that will surely shake the very foundations of this society. I've never heard of an heir showing themselves in public before."

It was then that Sarutobi Hiruzen had been interrupted when he heard someone from his intercom speak.

"Hiruzen-sama, there's a pending call coming from a certain someone." Interrupted the voice from the intercom; Hiruzen simply leaned forward and asked the person, "Who is it?"

"He says his name was GIS? Or was it an acronym for GYS? He says he has a bone to pick with you, sir."

Sarutobi once more gave a chuckle at this and leaned back to grab his phone.

"No worries, I know who it is, Izumo-kun. Don't fret and no wiretapping."

"Sir!"

With that, Hiruzen began to speak to the caller, "It's been a while since we managed to talk and now you're calling just because I might have done something to have messed with you? Typical."

To be continued…

* * *

Messing with my head for a bit, fatigue is overkill when you really can't have anything going your way for the moment. Yes, it's been two-three whole weeks of hectic schedules that I couldn't write properly anymore. And yes, many times my muse is not speaking to me simply because it's getting hard to retain all of what I thought through the day when your mind is so congested with (shudders) paperwork. Anyway, here's another sample of what I thought about this story. Let me know if it's mending well or it needs more improvement.

Don't worry, first arc of Naruto will happen, as does with Bleach and of course, Soul Society Arc but Naruto pans out from there, The Chuunin exam Arc will be replaced since it isn't really suitable here with something I've cooked up while I was working. Don't worry, Gaara would still make an appearance and still fight Naruto, as does Orochimaru. For One Piece, I decided to skip the Drums Island arc since I already introduced Chopper as part of Luffy's crew even BEFORE meeting Vivi. So sorry Wapol fans (if there is any) No love for you. The only thing I think that will be consistent here would be BLEACH but it's a stretch, I think. It depends on how it will work out. Of course, there will be a lot of contradictions coming from the 3 heroes and these three backgrounds that they will represent but there will be a lot of things that they will most certainly agree on and might work together. It's all based on circumstance.


	3. Convergence

Chapter Three: Convergence

* * *

Earlier that day:

Kushina stood in front of Naruto who was looking repentant while sitting in a famous position designed to punish Japanese children whenever they do something absolutely disapproving for their parents. Many of them feared this method of punishment, perhaps even more painful than squatting for a few minutes as many of them were subjected to this type of torture from a mere twenty minutes to almost half a day.

The boy was shifting uncontrollably as he felt his legs go numb from all the pressure that was applied to it. It felt like all the blood circulation from his legs was now suspended. He was gritting his teeth as each of the employees that were in their vicinity was watching the whole thing in amusement while Tsunade simply shook her head.

Naruto was sitting in Seiza, a torture method that he thought was a pre-requisite for an amputation. Seriously, the way he was being forced to sit like that would qualify as a way to tear his legs off in hopes of him never walking again.

"Kushina, you're awfully doing this in a wrong environment." Tsunade commented as the former section chief simply nodded with a smile, "Disciplining a young one is certainly a necessity to set them straight but there are lines that need not be crossed, such as embarrassing your own son in front of my subordinate's men, Kushina-dono."

To this the woman simply glared at them as she said, "My son ran away from home due to an impulse in looking for his father, it's not something I would call, 'responsible' in his long list of decisions that have been quite a nuisance at home."

"Oh, you mean about the time I snuck out of home and went to ride one of the horses?"

"You gave elder Touya a heart attack, son, they thought you were going to die in riding Rupert. You knew how he was like but you chose to ignore that and rode him anyway." Kushina answered to which Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "Yeah but I got to tame him, didn't I?"

"Only after it tried to literally get rid of you when you rode it." Kushina added helpfully as Naruto conceded.

"Ahahaha! He did?" Tsunade asked in a hearty laughter as she slapped the boy's back and said, "That was pretty funny, kid, scaring those old fogeys out of their wits, got anymore stories of your 'adventures'?"

"Well, there was this time I had a cat at home, his name was Tora and he liked roaming around our house. He always managed to leave something inside one of the elders' rooms "

Kushina was immediate to add, "Don't encourage him, Tsunade, and I never gave Naruto a cat, it was a stray that happened to wander around our home. Naruto picked it up and left it alone after that, guess what it did to Shuren's paintings?"

Tsunade simply laughed once more as Naruto asked his mother, "Mom, do city people really laugh at those kinds of things? Isn't that disgusting?"

Kushina looked serious at this as she answered her son, "No son. City people laugh at the misfortune of others. Yours and mine included. Though to be fair, they have their moments of misfortune as well, so now, OTHER city people laugh at them."

"That's a pretty twisted view you have of this city, Kushina, keep this up and you can consider your son interacting with his peers as good as gone." Tsunade commented as Kushina simply scoffed at the idea.

"Oh please, I'm just stating facts. Since we're in the city and with him looking adamant on searching for his father, it's better to give him advice how to live here."

Hiruzen was the one to reply to Kushina at this, "Wouldn't it be wiser to just go back home then, Kushina-dono?"

Kushina shook her head while she was looking at Naruto whose legs were shaking from the numbness he was experiencing.

"No, because that will only encourage him to look for his father, it won't be the first time he'd have snuck out of the house." Kushina mentioned as Naruto groaned.

"Mom, my legs are getting numb, can't you let go of me? It huurrrttttss! I'm sorry, already!" Naruto whined, as he was massaging thighs from the pain. He looked like he was grimacing and was close to tears as Kushina stood quiet for a moment, obviously, her motherly instincts taking over.

"Of course dear, I could never stay mad at you! Now get up and let me help you into the car and then we'll talk about spending our time here, those old farts back home can go screw themselves!" Kushina exclaimed as she went over and doted over her only son.

"Well, I must be going senile, but I could have sworn Kushina-dono's stance in punishing Naruto-kun just changed and instead smothered him like how any overprotective parent should." Hiruzen mentioned in wonder. He looked over to Kushina who was prodding over her only child who was groaning in pain when he was leaning over to his own mother for support.

"Heh. Just like a soccer mom." Tsunade commented as Kushina pointed a finger at her, "Shut up, you Christmas cake! This is my son, the only person that's keeping me sane in that madhouse! If I had the chance, I'd run away too!"

Tsunade quirked a brow at this as she asked, "Your son, the total opposite of what being a noble heir is, is the person that's keeping you from going off the deep end? That's some sanity you have there, Kushina. No wait, better yet, that's some family."

"Of course it is! I wouldn't be this strong willed if it weren't for my idiot husband and my idiot son!" Kushina declared rather proudly as she grabbed a rather embarrassed Naruto and hugged him close, Naruto somewhat groaned.

"Those wrinkled people that smell like dirt can go screw themselves! This is the only time me and my son have some quality time and I sure as hell am not willing to let this slide!" Kushina continued and Hiruzen chuckled at this, "Now I see where young Naruto has obtained his manner of speaking. Perhaps he clings on to you more than he lets on, Kushina."

Kushina somewhat blushed at this as she looked rather embarrassed, "Yeah well, he was like me when I was younger-tebane."

Hiruzen gave a small grin and said "Now that you're here, I want to know exactly what you plan to do while staying here?"

"Simple, whatever my son wants to do." To this the red head pointed her thumb towards her son who was massaging his legs.

Tsunade seemed awfully unsure of this as he said, "I don't think it's a good idea to defy against them, Kushina."

She was referring to the elders, who mostly do the decisions right now with no current head. He was obviously very perturbed at this. The Namikaze had a strong hold to their branch. And if they were to defy what is most likely their strongest benefactor, then it would cause numerous problems in the end.

"And I don't think it's wise of them to cage my son forever in that house. He's been deprived of a normal childhood. He needs more people than just me; he needs friends, Tsunade. Before he is the heir of the clan, he's my son." Kushina mentioned her side of her argument. Obviously, she was thinking more of her son rather than the clan.

"But he's no ordinary boy, which is the problem, Kushina-dono. He's the heir to the most influential clan in this country. Not only that if it is indeed true that he holds the Kyuubi's jewel in his person, then no doubt it would be a much more dangerous situation if he expresses a strong form of Negative emotion. The consequences of such events would surely…" Hiruzen gave a fair warning, and he should. Many of the doctrines that predate before the establishment of this organization were read by him, and although outdated, he would rather not risk it if it were the truth. After all, they're fighting style existed. So the existence of the Six Path Sage would have some form of credibility to it.

"He already hates our home. He doesn't want to come back." Kushina interjected, she was obviously growing annoyed at all these things. Sometimes she just wanted to do something with her son damn the consequences.

"How do you know?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow, obviously not impressed with her answer, "I'm his mother, remember? I know how my son thinks, he wants to see things on his own and learn all about the outside world. To him, you can't just learn everything from just reading books, that's why his curiosity towards the city is so big and it's somewhat brings out his fascination."

Tsunade looked sceptical at this but it seemed to have turned into surprise when her mentor suddenly chuckled and understood the mother's dilemma. Hiruzen then said to the red head, "Well then, if you must insist. Since you are so adamant about your decision, I don't have a problem with it and if it's for Naruto's education purposes, even better. But be forewarned about the insistence of the elders of your clan. They will obviously not take this kindly. If by chance, and I'm sure they will get wind of this; the Konoha branch will have played no official part in it. You do understand where we're coming from, right, Kushina-dono?"

Kushina simply nodded at this as Hiruzen gave a smile as he looked at the blonde heir who seemed to be in wonder as he stared at the giant building around him. Hiruzen liked that in children. To him, curiosity meant a desire to learn. Something that made Hiruzen, who was once a college professor, looked absolutely amused.

"I suggest he be placed at an educational institution, in order for him to mingle with people his age and familiarize himself in the city. After all, what better way to adapt in an urban lifestyle than learning from the people that grew up in this city?" Hiruzen mentioned as Naruto had suddenly had his ears twitching. The blonde immediately went over to the Sandaime with sparkles in his eyes out of pure excitement.

"You mean it? I'm going to school?" He asked rather too hyperactive.

"Of course, if your mother allows, that is." Hiruzen consented as Naruto looked over to his mother expectantly as if expecting there was a present for him.

"Oh, please, can I, mom? Please, please, please? I want to go to school to see what it's like!" Naruto shouted with as much enthusiasm. Kushina, who looked to her side and groaned, simply agreed to the deal.

"Well, it's better than doing nothing here in the city, who knows? Maybe he'll make a lot of friends there."

To this, Naruto gave a big whoop and jumped.

The three adults looked at the heir in mild amusement while Kushina said, "Fine, he can go there if he wishes, but I want full protection on my son, got it? I don't want to embarrass my kid by being there on his first day."

Tsunade looked thoughtful at this as she said, "Full protection, eh? Well, there is this team that I've been meaning to re-train because of all their mission failures as of late."

Tsunade placed a hand on a finger on her chin as she looked up. Before finally grabbing her phone and dialled a number. Once the designated receiver of the call picked up, Tsunade was quick on barking orders.

"Shizune, get me Kakashi and Team seven."

Team Seven:

Uchiha Sasuke hated a lot of things in his team, he hated the fact he got grouped with that creep wearing that equally creepy smile, Sai. Something about that SWAT member, his perpetual dick jokes and oblivious insults made Sasuke want to impale him with a sword, and not with the euphemistic kind (Sasuke shuddered at this).

Simply put, Sasuke did not want himself associating with Sai anymore than he needs to. He hated the creep, plain and simple and would rather want to see him dead or 'mysteriously vanished' at one point or another.

Sakura, Tsunade's apprentice, was another one. It seemed whatever Tsunade ingrained on her apprentice made her tempers turn for the worst. Not that she had a nice demeanor back then, quite frankly, she was much more dangerous and hate inducing when they were younger. When she was in her pre-pubescent years, she was a two faced bitch that never seemed to pick a fight first but smashes you with a chair when your back is turned. For an example of what she did, ask Kiba.

Now, well, that ugly side of her personality, not that she had a good personality at the beginning (Or Sasuke thought), was showing a lot less because now, whoever disagrees with her gets their face turned to mush. Sasuke didn't know who to hate more, the backstabbing Sakura or this Sakura that seemed more violent and a lot less restrained than she was back then.

But even they were infinitely better than their commander, Hatake Kakashi who was perpetually late, had eyes that seemed too aloof with the world around him. That perverted book that he read while around the public was proof (Not that he didn't enjoy it, he just thought it was inappropriate to read it in public). He had seen a fellow officer (who was a woman that was ready to shove a gun at Kakashi's spine) of his level frown at their commander who always gives off that perverted chuckle. He was just glad he didn't see their commander having a boner every second of his life.

Commencing brain bleach right now.

What was he talking about again? Oh right, Kakashi.

That perpetually late commander of theirs always manages to put their team on the worst image as possible.

The worst performing team in the last ten years? Check.

Awful team coordination and dynamics? Check.

Tardiness award in meetings because of their commanding officer? Check.

Managing to piss off that nice old lady because of almost killing her pet cat? Fucking check in SPADES!

Well, that last one was more of their (Sakura, Sai and him) fault. Well that stupid cat was asking for it!

Sasuke massaged his temples to ease the headache he was receiving right now. It was then that Sakura had burst into their room that interrupted his train of thought and Sai's drawing when she said, "We have a mission!"

Sasuke being the naturally cool guy that he is (or so he thinks) looked up to the ceiling fan of their office and said, "This better be good."

"I agree. It has been long overdue that we have a successful mission ever since this team was established." Sai concurred; Sakura had her brow twitching at their words.

The pinkette had always been trying to cheer their team up! Give it a little life! For God's sake, she was stuck with an androgynous male that had an affinity for penis jokes and a perpetually frowning boy that had this aura that says 'I hate the world, so go fuck yourself.'

It was just all so frustrating that she just… Cha!

**SMASH!**

"That's the third desk you broke this month Sakura, that's coming out of your pay." Kakashi walked in to their room with his nose still stuck in that orange book. While her teammates were looking at her rather unsurprised, obviously, they got used to it.

When you see Sakura smash things for the umpteenth time, you too would be desensitized by her wanton destruction and near psychopathic tendencies.

"What's this I hear about a new assignment?" Sasuke asked, Kakashi peeked out of his book and looked at Sasuke with his only visible eye.

"Oh, right. Tsunade-sama called us for an assignment in doing a bodyguard mission for a VIP." Kakashi informed as he went to his thankfully undamaged desk and began rummaging through all the crumpled papers and porno magazines.

This seemed to have an increased interest coming from the Uchiha. After all, bodyguard missions were very high profile. If they manage to pull this off, that stain as the worst team in the last ten years would be removed from their label.

Kakashi, who then began writing as he was reading his novel (seriously, how does he do that?), wrote down the order that Tsunade had given him earlier about the mission. It just so happened Sakura caught wind of it first due to the fact that she was the apprentice of the current section chief.

When Sasuke read the details of the mission and as quick as lightning, his hand slammed on to the desk and said, "This better not be a joke, Kakashi-taicho."

"I'm afraid not, Sasuke. As you can see, we have been tasked to work as bodyguards and security for the Namikaze heir, who, to my bewilderment, is going to attend high school."

Sasuke was internally fuming at this, another crappy chore mission in guarding the heir, fucking fantastic! Not only that, he was going to attend THEIR school, the only moment that he had to forget and ignore his teammates in favour of being alone. Now even THAT little pleasure was going to be a problem. Why couldn't this guy go to a fancier school, then, huh? Stupid heir, to him, someone in the higher plane was screwing him over and over.

"We are not doing this babysitting mission."

Heh, if one member of the team disagrees with a mission, the assignment would be on hold.

The next day:

"I can't believe we are doing this babysitting mission." Sasuke grumbled.

It seemed Tsunade had overruled that particular rule with another one. A team with more than fifteen failed missions would be placed in probation or risk being demoted at the logistics department with a pay cut.

The heir was walking rather happily at the school he was going to be in wearing a uniform (Consisting of khaki long sleeves and slacks, a red neck tie and white undershirt) that his mother bought for him just yesterday. The blonde kept waving at any student that went past them who would often look in confusion and sometimes, amusement, much to the embarrassment of his team.

Stupid rich kid.

* * *

Ichigo:

Rukia was kind enough to explain to him that now being exposed with the knowledge about the organization of the so called Shinigami; he has no choice but be silent about it. Seeing as she was the one who gave him some of her powers, she was partly now responsible of their secret potentially being exposed to the public, with Ichigo risking that his mother's memento being taken away.

As much as possible, he has to keep it a secret until Rukia can properly report this to the members of the organization; otherwise, Rukia mentioned something unmentionable might happen to him.

He didn't know what was wrong in their heads; in fact these guys should be made public! They're the ones who are trying to fight those hollows in the first place!

With these things as common knowledge to the world townspeople right now, the people that are defending the city should be made as common knowledge as well! For god's sake the people in this town need to be assured that everything is ok!

But Ichigo sighed, it seemed that a lot of people as they grow stronger have most of their common sense being diminished every time they 'level up'. Case and point, that rubber kid and Rukia, for stupid reasons, decided to stay at their house for a moment. Now that was something he had to keep a secret! He REALLY didn't need someone like that idiot Keigo snooping his nose on his business and turning it into one big misunderstanding.

It's not like Rukia was staying at their clinic to recover her injuries, she stated she was going to monitor his condition. Apparently, this was a rare incident in which a human was forcefully injected with live reiatsu. Something that should have destroyed his body in the process, but it didn't or rather, it couldn't. It seemed that his own latent powers absorbed and copied the powers Rukia had. Or that's what she said; it was actually a rare sight for a civilian like him to have 'as much reiatsu potential as that of a captain!' or whatever the hell that meant. He probably thought he just had above average powers than what most did have, big whoop.

Passing by a group of students, he could have sworn that he heard something about two transfer students, one boy and one girl. To Ichigo, transferring in the middle of a semester was quite unheard of. Well, except in a manga, but that was in for another time.

When he reached his classroom, a loud, long and definitely annoying voice had been picked up from his ears threatening his ear drums to burst.

"ICHIIIIIIIIIIGO~BLEGH!" Keigo shouted at the top his lungs before being arm smacked by Ichigo in a manner that seemed like it was an everyday phenomenon.

Keigo, the boy with orange hair and a very lax appearance, dropped to the ground in a heap as he felt his lungs give out air from the pain.

"Yo, Keigo." The orange haired teen mentioned and dropped his handbag to his desk.

"That's cruel of you, Ichigo! I've been warmly greeting you as a friend should for the last two years and all I get from you every time is this pain!" Keigo whined. Ichigo merely looked at him with a half lidded gaze and said, "Quit bothering me, Keigo."

"WAHHH! ICHIGO IS SUCH A DOUCHE! WHAT THE HELL DID I DO TO DESERVE SUCH A STUPID FRIEND LIKE YOU?"

"I don't know, maybe because you kept imposing in on me for the last two years?" Ichigo asked rather rhetorically as another of Ichigo's friends, this time, Mizuiro who was shorter than Keigo, walked over to them while holding his cell phone.

"Keigo, you sound like a nagging wife. Also, did you guys hear the latest rumour around school? Something about two transfer students?"

Keigo was immediate on a reply, "Ooh… Tell me about it, I hope the girl is cute and transfers to our classroom! We need more babes like Orihime-chan!"

Although Ichigo looked disinterested, his ears were slightly twitching about the whole issue. There was just something that was bothering him right about now and it could be that

"And you're telling me that I shouldn't listen to rumours? Real nice on the lesson there, Ichigo."

A new voice had suddenly entered his ears as he looked to his side and saw a boyish looking girl that had her bag on her side and was giving that half lidded gaze back at him.

"Your sarcasm is spilling on the floor that I'm slipping off my chair. What do you want, Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked flatly, obviously annoyed at the sudden comment about him being hypocritical. Tatsuki merely rolled her eyes.

"Nothing, it's just that I wanted to ask you as to where you were for the last two days." Tatsuki replied, looking at her left and saw Orihime who was waving at them. Both Tatsuki and Ichigo waved back haphazardly as the orange haired teen muttered to the tomboyish girl.

"Don't ask me those questions. And whatever I did for the past two days has got nothing to do with you. Why'd you ask?" Ichigo asked, Tatsuki gave a devilish smirk at this as she said, "It's because you're too twitchy right now, like something tells you that something unpleasant is bound to happen."

Ichigo simply dismissed it, "No, I just wanted to skip class yesterday."

Tatsuki didn't believe any of it. Despite Ichigo's apparent near delinquent like status, he always goes to class and does well on his tests. He had been trying to remove his already bad reputation in school for fear of not being accepted in a university for a proper course. Ichigo was hiding something, and he seemed adamant about it staying completely secret. So she had no choice but to not pry into it anymore.

"Tch. Whatever, it's not like I cared." Tatsuki dismissed the thought as she went to her seat while Ichigo had a raised eyebrow at this.

What the hell did he say?

Just as he was about to go ask Tatsuki what exactly she was upset about, Ichigo was halted when he saw their teacher entering the class.

Misato Ochi looked like she was about to hit another round of depression, thankfully, those prescribed medications were keeping her in check! Yep! She was as perky as a plucked chicken!

When the students did their morning greeting, the teacher grabbed her class record and began taking attendance. Once she was done, she looked over to the nearest door and tilted her head as if gesturing someone to enter the room.

Ichigo's eyes widened at the very second two students had walked in, a feeling of all the blood in his face draining as he paled while watching a spiky blonde haired boy wearing that toothy grin and a girl that was fairly short but had a modest haircut walked in.

His eye brow twitched at the coincidence of this.

"My name is Namikaze Naruto and I wish to partake in this educational institution to see how a commoner's school feels like!"

Ichigo could have sworn he heard one of his classmates just smashed his head on his desk.

After that blonde idiot came the person that made HIM smash his face on his desk.

"Hello, my name is Kuchiki Rukia. I just transferred here because of family business, although I'll be staying here for an undetermined period of time, I do hope that we could all get along oh so well."

Oh hell no.

* * *

Luffy:

Damn it! He was late again! He could have sworn his clock mentioned that it was 6:43! Stupid arm clock, why couldn't he get a digital one?

Luffy turned to a corner and unceremoniously jumped in front of the school gate at break neck speed, increasing his jump height and trajectory, landing on the other side with a thud.

The rubber boy sighed in relief as he looked back and saw the caretaker smirk a little before going back inside. Luffy didn't know why that guy was smirking but who cares? He was on time for once!

Principal's office:

"You're late!" Yelled the muscular moustachioed gym-teacher wearing that horrendous tight fitting sleeveless shirt, one that Luffy was trying hard, and failing miserably, to not laugh at.

"Why are you snickering? What's so funny, Monki (1)?" Asked Kagine who was looking down at Luffy with a twitching eyebrow obviously annoyed at the snickering delinquent.

Luffy held his mouth and shook his head profusely. Not that it convinced Kagine even one bit.

"You see, principal? This delinquent here is purposely defying and insulting his superiors! He needs to be taught a lesson!" Kagine then pointed to Luffy while the dear old principal merely waved it off.

"Oh come now, I'm sure he didn't mean it, I mean if I remember correctly, dear Luffy-kun made it here almost in the nick of time. Remember last time?"

The gym teacher turned his head towards the window and saw a part of the school wall was destroyed. He then glared at Luffy who was now holding his breath and trying his best not to shiver in laughter.

Kagine was fuming right now as he stared at the teenager and begrudgingly sent the boy out.

Once Luffy was out, he was roaring in laughter.

* * *

Ichigo:

It wasn't real, everything in it wasn't real, Naruto sitting beside him with that shit eating grin while patting his back wasn't real, and the girl with that sickeningly fake smile that was waving at him wasn't real. NONE OF IT WAS REAL!

Ichigo coughed.

"Please, stop doing that." He said to Naruto who laughed heartily at this.

"Oh man, I didn't think we would meet up again like this too son, Ichigo! Man I am so glad I get to see you again! I was worried I'd have to find you in order to pay you back!" The obviously real Naruto declared as he continued to slap Ichigo's back. The orange haired teen was seriously considering of shutting Naruto up. A large tick mark was making its way across his forehead as it began to throb when Ichigo was losing patience. He glared at the blonde dangerously but not before being thrown by a crumpled piece of paper. Ichigo opened it and read the note.

'_Bear with it for now; no way would his mother put that idiot in harm's way. And we're under contract that we really shouldn't let anyone lay a hand on him. If you do manage to, then we'll be forced to take action.'_

It was then that Ichigo looked around him, looking at each of his classmates as to who sent the message. He didn't like that they were hiding from him, no it actually was pissing him off. Then he saw something that caught his attention. Someone was staring at them, and that stare wasn't an ordinary one either, he noticed that the boy's eyes were red. Ichigo scowled at the raven haired boy. He remembered that guy just two days ago, apparently, he was a member of the corps. Not wanting to stir up any commotion between them, Ichigo backed down and sighed.

"Naruto, please stop doing that, it's starting to hurt." He said flatly, to which Naruto complied.

As if that wasn't enough, his annoying, overreacting friend, Keigo was continuously getting his attention and asking him what Naruto meant when he said those words.

"Oi, Ichigo! When did you start hanging out with high profile friends? You've been holding out on us, haven't you?" Keigo pointed an accusatory finger at Ichigo who merely threw Keigo a textbook hitting him square in the face.

"MY FACE!"

Trying his best to stay focused on the lesson at hand; Ichigo kept staring at the front but was disturbed by the sounds of engines roaring outside. He didn't exactly know why there would be the sounds of engines roaring inside the campus, but he suspected it had to do with a fellow delinquent in school. He just hoped it wasn't him that was being described.

"GET OUT HERE, STRAW HAT! GET OUT OR I'LL COME IN THERE AND DRAG YOUR SORRY ASS OUT HERE WITH MY BIKE!"

To emphasize the man's point, the thug roared his engine loudly so it could be heard.

Ichigo was about to peer through his window when their teacher was the first one to let out that surprisingly loud screeching.

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BUNCH LOW IQ, BRAIN DEAD MISFITS! I'M TEACHING A CLASS HERE!"

"Ms. Ochi, please calm down…" Chastised Sakura who was going to grab the elder woman that was still harping at the obviously pissed off delinquents below.

"I'VE BEEN IGNORING THE FREAKSHOW OF MY CLASS FOR THE LAST HOUR AND HERE YOU ARE, DISTURBING THE PEACE OF MY SCHOOL AND LITERALLY TRYING TO HARM ONE OF MY STUDENTS? I OUGHTA SMACK YOU ALL TO LAST WEEK!"

"What'd you say, hag? Ya wanna die that badly, huh?" Shouted one of the punks who was swinging his nailed bat with his right hand trying to emphasize his point.

"Come down here and say it to our faces!"

As the tirade of insults began to be thrown from both sides, Naruto snuck a peek to the window and asked Ichigo, "Wow, who are those guys?"

Ichigo answered him, "Just a bunch of gang members looking for some dude named Mugiwara, I would advise to not mess with them, they may be idiots and lowlifes but they come in numbers."

"Kurosaki-kun, who are you talking to?" Asked a new voice, Ichigo turned his head towards the long haired red head, Inoue Orihime.

"Huh? I was talking to Naruto." Ichigo said as if he was answering a stupid question which he hoped that it was.

"Namikaze-san already left." Orihime answered and pointed to the empty space that was near Ichigo. It was then that the class heard a few chairs shuffling and the sound of shoes sprinting out to the door. Ichigo's eyes had suddenly grown as realization dawned on him.

"No, it couldn't be. He may be naïve and unrefined in urban life, but he's not THAT stupid!" Ichigo said to himself, to which, their new classmate had suddenly spoke, "Why are you talking to yourself, Kurosaki-san? And I never knew you were a friend of such a highly influential person."

Ichigo wanted to shout at Rukia to shut up, but that would be uncouth considering the class' current outlook of the girl. The orange head simply headed out and dashed as Orihime watched in confusion.

"Wait… Namikaze-san and Kurosaki-kun are friends?"

Everyone in the class had a bead of sweat at the back of their heads.

Ichigo made it downstairs towards the front door, looking for that blonde idiot, Ichigo could have sworn that Naruto was capable of doing things like this because of his curious nature.

Wait.

Why was he looking for that blonde idiot, again?

"He isn't here! We need to get back in the school before any of those dumbasses get any idea…"

"Hey! You! Yeah, you four! You're Straw hat's subordinates aren't ya?"

To this, Ichigo, Sakura, Sasuke and Sai turned towards the one in the front pointing his bokken at them. Sasuke simply scowled, great, they were spotted, probably due to Kurosaki's hair.

"The hell you talking about? And who's Mugiwara?" Ichigo asked to their inquisitor. The man simply raised his eyebrow behind his dark tinted shades and said to Ichigo, "You tryin' to act innocent? You guys destroyed our boss' headquarters! Does 'Arlong Park' ring any bell to ya, juice head?"

"What'd you say, punk?" Ichigo asked with his voice low, he was going to smack this guy's face in with his fist when he heard a loud voice coming from inside the school.

"Guys! Where were you? I was looking all over for you!"

The quartet turned their backs towards Naruto who was waving at them as he said, "Man, the restrooms here are pretty far from the classrooms, not only that, they reek! So this is what it's like to be in a school… I can't wait to taste cafeteria food later!"

Naruto cheerfully said to them as the thug from earlier grew a tick mark from the back of his head, "Don't ignore me, Straw Hat's subordinates!"

"There he goes again about that Mugiwara guy, just who the hell is he?" Sakura asked them to which all of them shrugged.

"Beats me, but who in their right mind would want to be named as 'Mugiwara'?" Sasuke mentioned, Naruto simply raised his hand.

"Um, I kind of have to agree there seeing as no one would ever consider naming themselves as Straw Hat."

"Namikaze-sama!"

A voice interrupted their conversation as they looked at the girl who made her way towards them from the front door once again and gave Naruto his wallet. Her skin was as white as snow, violet hair that flowed to her lower back in linear, and her pearly white eyes shying away from Electric but innocent blue ones.

"Y-You dropped this on your way to the restrooms."

Naruto frantically turned to his pocket and unsurprisingly found his wallet missing. Quickly grabbing his wallet from the girl, he thanked her profusely and bowed.

"Crap! I almost got myself broke again! Thanks! Uh…"

"M-my name is Hyuuga Hinata, Namikaze-sama."

"Right, Hinata! Thanks a lot! If it weren't for you, my mom would be giving me a stern lecture later!" The heir thanked the Hyuuga profusely and walked back inside.

"I SAID DON'T IGNORE ME, YOU BUNCH OF PRICKS!" The thug at the front shouted swinging his bokken at the last person that was going to walk inside which turned out to be Hinata.

He was surprised however, when Hinata had suddenly stopped the attack with just her palm, right hand outstretched upward, Hinata said in complete monotone to her foe.

"Cease these actions now or you will be charged with assaulting a corps member as your offense. Disarm yourself and step away from me in three seconds. If not, I will be forced to take drastic measures."

Before the man could even jump back he was suddenly flipped over by Hinata and slammed her palm straight to the man's face knocking her out.

"Who the hell is this bitch?" Shouted one of the thugs as Hinata replied when she got up, immediately going for a stance.

"Shinobi Corps, Konoha Branch, Squad Eight member, Hyuuga Hinata."

The response was then immediate.

"Shit, it's someone from the corps! We need more than one man in taking her down!"

"Get Saito over here before she gets any idea of bringing one of us in! The boss was already imprisoned; we don't need someone like her getting any ideas about throwing us behind bars!"

It was then that Sasuke, Sakura and Sai all appeared in the middle of their crowd in a sudden blink, all of them standing upright with their hands clenched into fists.

"Shinobi corps rule number four, in case of attacks to personnel from hostile agents, the use of force is authorized." Sai exclaimed as Sakura continued as she clenched her fist, "In other words…"

Sasuke was the one to finish his eyes turning blood red as three distinguishable comma like marks began spinning in the iris, "You mess with one of us, then we'll kick all of your asses."

Then…

Pandemonium.

Ichigo and Naruto watched as the quartet started tossing bodies left and right, driving them into the ground and pounding more that stood in their way. Naruto had stars in his eyes, lit in absolute excitement as he said to Ichigo, "Oh wow! Is this what they call a party? I'm joining in!"

It looked like fun! No way was he going to be left out of this! It must be awesome!

"No wait, you idiot!"

Too late, Naruto jumped into the fray and weaved through the crowd of unmentionably ugly thugs with unkempt hair, bad breath and poor hygiene, dodging effortlessly as one of them punched Naruto, who jumped and used the poor thug's head as a platform and jumped further all the while laughing like a maniac. Ichigo looked at the blonde who looked like he was having the time of his life, jumping all around the area with that smile on his face as he effortlessly sidestepped and let two thugs smash into each other as Naruto continued to laugh.

"What the hell am I even doing here?"

"Ah! They're already starting without me!" Said a newcomer, Ichigo looked to his side and saw the same rubber kid he met earlier and guffawed.

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked, the kid with that grin of his looked at Ichigo and said, "Well, I heard they were shouting my name while I was in the cafeteria having my brunchnack."

"You're what?"

"Duh, Brunchnack, as in a mixture of Breakfast, Lunch and snack before lunch, a meal very essential to all humans!" Luffy proudly exclaimed, Ichigo could only give a flat out, "What?"

Ichigo shook his head and tried not to delve any deeper into the conversation between him and this guy, so instead of asking further where the hell did brunchnack come from, he changed the subject.

"Your name's Mugiwara?" Ichigo asked rather incredulously, whoever this guy's parents are; they sure don't have any imagination at all!

"Nope, I'm Luffy! Mugiwara is my crew's name!"

Again, Ichigo gave a flat out, "What?"

Scratch that, it wasn't his parents that had a problem; it was this guy's imagination that was the problem.

"Anyway, since I've made it here already, I've decided to let out all the energy that I've stored from my brunchnack into this fight!" Luffy exclaimed as he began stretching his right arm around normally before dashing towards the chaotic fray intent on taking down as many enemies as he can. Ichigo, however, remained dumbfounded at the whole situation.

Ichigo simply watched the scene and felt so out of place as he went inside with a huge sigh, "I'm never going to live a normal life now, am I?"

"Now, now, don't say it like that, after all, it's the weird ones we'll be getting stuck with as friends for life, don't you agree?"

Ichigo felt like he was about to jump from the sudden surprise by a man wearing a dark green jinbei underneath an even darker green hanten and wearing green striped bucket hat while carrying a cane and wearing an old pair of getta sandals. His barely kept blonde hair and rugged chin made Ichigo take a step back as he saw that small smile creeping on the old man's face.

"Hello, my name is Urahara Kisuke, might I interest you in some of my highly valuable products?"

* * *

To be continued…

And here's the update, sorry it took so long, had a tremendous case of writer's block and a bad eye problem (couldn't get to work because of it, had to rest for a few days before I can do anything)

Anyway, here's to chapter 3! It was kind of fun doing this, I thought a lot about humor for one, I love doing 'Sasuke hates everything' scenes along with Ichigo's penchant for getting annoyed so easily and being hypocritical in the things he does.

And of course, the wordplay here is Mugiwara/straw hat. Naruto and the rest were confused straw hat with a proper name since the thugs said that 'he come out'

'Detekoi-yo, Mugiwara!'- 'Get over here, Straw hat!'


	4. Decisions

Shounen Town

Chapter Four: Decisions

* * *

Sasuke, Sakura, Sai and Hinata stood behind a very elated Naruto who was describing his first day at school like it was the best thing in the world.

"It was so fun, mom! I got to meet this friend of mine who helped me out before you got here, and then this REALLY big crowd came over to the school and kept shouting for some dude named Mugiwara to come out! I thought it was really nerve wracking at first, they all look like they served time in prison and they had this really funky hairstyle. Come to think of it, how do they drive their motorcycles while carrying around their bokken like that? Anyway that's not important, what is important is that they actually threw a party out in the front yard!"

Kushina had to hide the urge to palm her face at this. This is what happens when your son has been isolated for most of his life in the mansion, no social skills whatsoever.

She could only force herself to smile at this and looked at her son as she said, "My, it sounds like you had quite a day. Did you have fun?"

'_Are you serious?'_ Sasuke inwardly asked this refusing to look exasperated at the conversation between mother and son. To his side, Sakura looked like she didn't know what to feel, either laugh or cry. The fact that they inadvertently placed the Namikaze heir in danger was the biggest failure than any of what they had done so far. Sai on the other hand, looked terribly confused on this.

"Should we tell the madame about what really occurred that day?" Sai asked, being the other person with terrible social skills.

Sasuke and Sakura vehemently shook their heads at this.

That aside though, as the blonde distorted what happened earlier from dangerous to fun, they couldn't help but marvel at the luxurious penthouse suite of one of the condo units in their neighbourhood.

"I know I shouldn't be surprised by this being in the uptown, but still…" Sakura mentioned as she looked around the unit the Namikaze family were currently staying at. She could fit five families in this place!

"Hinata-san, you've been awfully quiet since we arrived here, is something the matter?" Sai asked in a formal tone and the Hyuuga shook her head.

"I-It's nothing, it's just the fact that the Namikaze heir had just appeared before us. If father gets wind of this…" Hinata looked like she turned paler than what she was, if that was even possible.

"The bathrooms smelled awful though and the cafeteria food was stale. It was all so fascinating! I think I might like it there!" The blonde inquired while Kushina finally had given up holding back a sigh and she did. The redhead simply smiled after that and with one clap of her hands, a butler had immediately approached them. The butler was sickly looking deep baggy eyes and a bit scruffy if it wasn't for his kempt hair running straight at the back. Because of his appearance, he looked older than the beautiful Kushina, wearing that traditional gentleman's outfit and had a piece of white cloth in dangling on his left arm. He bowed deeply before the mother of the Namikaze heir and talked with a refined accent.

"Yes, Namikaze-sama?" He asked and smiled as Naruto waved.

"Yo, Hayate! Got anything to read in this place?" He asked, the butler smiled and gestured towards the small reading section of the condominium and replied, "I apologize for the small selection, young master, but I believe you would enjoy these pieces, they are manga my eldest is most fond of. I'm sorry if this is the only literature you could read, I would have given more thought about books if the trip wasn't so abrupt."

"SWEET! Come on, guys!" The blonde gestured and grabbed Hinata, who the blonde thought was the easiest to approach to. Sasuke seemed to give off the feeling that he didn't want to be here, sucks for him, and Sakura felt awkward to ask, she looked really troubled for some reason and Sai, well, Sai gave him the creeps.

Kushina simply looked at her son with a smile at this; it was quite a sight seeing her son looking this happy, back home, he could only smile if he was doing something that wasn't part of the ceremonies he often had to attend.

When his bodyguards warily walk towards the small reading section, Kushina opened her mouth to speak and found Sakura was the one to get wind of her voice.

"I guess I'll have to trust you guys to protect him from now on." She said with a smile as Sakura looked flabbergasted at this, "B-But… We inadvertently put your son in danger, Namikaze-sama, I'm sure you'd have a better set of bodyguards by the time we give our report tomorrow."

Kushina simply grinned at this and said, "I know. But at least he's unscathed, that and I think you people already developed an attachment to him. Or is it vice versa?"

Kushina flexed her arm a little and then added, "Don't worry; I'll put in a good word for you three back to that old hag, Tsunade. I'm sure this assignment isn't a failure at all. And bring that Hyuuga girl with you, it wouldn't feel like a complete set without her."

To this, Kushina turned to Hayate and said, "Tell Genma to prepare some food for tonight, we'll be having guests for dinner."

The butler wordlessly gave a bow at this and quickly made a dash towards the kitchen. Sakura looked rather incredulous at this as Kushina gave a grin that reminded her of the blonde's own.

"W-We really don't think we should stay for dinner, Namikaze-sama, we'd hate to impose…"

Kushina held her nose high and said, "Nonsense, you people need to be more open about this! Stay here and have dinner, it's the least I could do!"

"B-But…"

When Sakura tried to give a good reason, she found it hard to resist the older female when she gave her a glare that felt looked like she was going to be set on fire literally.

"We'll accept."

Kushina's glare quickly turned to a smile at this as she went to her room and the pink haired girl joining the group for their reading session.

After an hour, Naruto closed the manga he had been reading and looked back.

"Man, I wonder how Ichigo's doing." Naruto mused as he stretched his back and the members of the corps all looked at him.

"You mean Kurosaki?" Sasuke asked and Naruto gave a simple nod.

Sakura looked thoughtful at this as she asked, "Come to think of it, we saw you with that person just two days ago, right? How'd you two meet, Namikaze-sama? He isn't exactly what you would call an approachable person."

"That actually says a lot coming from one such as you, Pinky." Sai added in a calm manner, Sakura grew a tick at the back of her head.

"You got something to say, Sai?" Sakura threatened and flexed her right arm, emphasizing her willingness to hit Sai out of the building.

Sai only smiled and shook his head.

"Well, he saved me from starving to death. Remember that thing I told you guys about the Gameboy?" Naruto asked and the three members of Team Seven nodded sagely while Hinata looked confused.

"W-What exactly happened?" Hinata asked and Sakura answered for her, "It's a long story, I'll tell you all about it when we go home."

And so, Naruto explained what happened and how much he owed Ichigo for the food that he gave therefore saving his life.

Sasuke, for all his bitterness and spite, suddenly found a small smile escape his lips and laughed at Ichigo's unlucky streak.

"Ichigo must be feeling all warm and fuzzy inside after helping you out." Sasuke said with a smile while Sakura rolled her eyes. Trust the Uchiha's bad case of schadenfreude to take effect.

"Wow, you really think so?" Naruto asked, obviously fascinated and completely oblivious to what Sasuke really meant.

Not one to pass up an opportunity to entertain himself, Sasuke continued, "Oh yeah, I know so. I heard Ichigo does part time in some charity organization, he doesn't hesitate to help out people who are hungry. I bet if you didn't bring any money tomorrow he wouldn't hesitate to…"

Sasuke felt a sudden stabbing pain on his side and noticed Sakura just elbowed him in the gut. The Uchiha grunted in pain and bent over to the table muttering curses about pink haired monsters and their equally monstrous strengths.

"Please ignore Sasuke-kun for a moment, Namikaze-sama. He has a bad habit of manipulating people for his amusement. All that stuff about Kurosaki-san working for charity is a big fat lie." Sakura told the heir who only sat down and looked somewhat disappointed not being able to get a free meal.

"Like your thighs, right?" Sai helpfully mentioned, Hinata gasped at that inappropriately mean comment while Sasuke laughed in between his writhes of pain.

"Hehe… Somebody stepped on a landmine."

Naruto didn't know why, but somehow, he felt that the whole room just got a tad bit colder. Was the air conditioning in this place broken?

* * *

With Ichigo:

That weird ass merchant had been looking at Ichigo up and down for the last hour or two.

"Well now, I must say, you've got a very peculiar specimen here, Kuchiki-san." The man with the striped bucket hat said as he examined Ichigo from head to toe.

Rukia simply nodded.

"Don't call me a 'specimen' I'm not a damn guinea pig." Ichigo protested. The only thing stopping him from decking this guy was the fact that his arms and legs were strapped on to the table. Not that he agreed to do this; it was just that Rukia asked for Ichigo to get this test to see if he obtained some sort of side-effect from being forcibly injected with Reiatsu.

"Hmm… Tessai, take note, specimen has very good physique, no deformities, protrusions, lacerations, punctures, contusions and tumours."

"T-TUMOURS?" Ichigo suddenly asked in obvious surprise that he might get cancer from what Rukia did to him.

"Now, for the fun part!" Kisuke then wore a pair of sterile gloves and grabbed a scalpel from the tray that was held by a petite, no, a little girl wearing a nurse's cap and mask.

"H-Hey, what are you doing?" Ichigo asked as he looked on in dread when the old man wordlessly went to him and extended his arm ever closer.

"I'M STILL AWAKE YOU ASSHOLE! AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO PUT AN ANESTHETIC BEFORE YOU OPERATE ON ME OR SOMETHING?"

"What are you talking about, Kurosaki-san?" Kisuke asked as he went over Ichigo's body and grabbed the apple that was placed on the other side.

The mysterious man then sliced the apple with his tool and began eating. It was then that the sound of a computer generated voice made its presence known throughout the people inside the room.

'_Full biometric scan and analysis complete. No spiritual energy anomalies detected. No volatile reiatsu activity but detected steadily increasing spiritual energy. Current effect on body: none.'_

"What?" Ichigo asked flatly as a piece of paper came out just underneath his head.

Only the sound of the man biting the apple echoed throughout the silent room.

'_You're kidding, right?' _Ichigo, who was just strapped on the bed with only his pants on, was touched in places he didn't wished to be touched by a man and almost peed himself at the site of the man holding that scalpel as if he was about to cut him open, felt like a twig snapping from all the pressure.

"The machine is right on time, as always." Kisuke said in satisfaction as he grabbed the paper from underneath the table.

"Urahara-dono, I advice that you stop playing with the patient; this is serious work." Rukia reprimanded the scientist.

The man now known as Urahara gleefully held up his apple and said, "Ah, Kuchiki-san, why must you take my fun out?"

"WHAT?" Ichigo asked, recovering from his scare earlier that now turned into undiluted rage.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE, I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOU!" Ichigo shouted with all of his might, struggling from his makeshift bed as a red headed kid knocked him out with a hit to the head with a wooden bat.

"Kisuke-san, where do you want him?" The boy asked, Urahara then pointed to the nearest couch and added.

"Add some restraints while you're at it, Jinta-kun." Urahara advised and the boy shrugged.

"Find something wrong?" Rukia asked and Urahara shook his head.

"Unfortunately, no." He said that part out in amusement causing a tick mark to grow on Rukia's forehead. Sometimes Urahara tended to have fun by screwing people in the head.

"Quit fooling around. Does he have a problem or not?" Rukia asked, now showing her annoyance.

"Not really a problem but more in the lines of 'fascinating', that boy is." Urahara mentioned being vague about the whole thing. Rukia steeled her gaze at the Urahara and asked him, "Why fascinating?"

"Oh you wouldn't believe the amount of Reiryoku he has! It's pretty unbelievable!"

Rukia was getting more and more annoyed, "I think we've established that without your redundancy. What's his reiatsu amount?"

Urahara then discarded the apple that he was eating and grabbed a paper fan and unfolded it just below his face, hiding his rugged beard and lips.

"He has no amount." Urahara answered plainly. Rukia was surprised at this.

"What? What do you mean he has no amount? He wielded and unlocked a Zanpakuto's primal state! It's impossible for him not to have one!"

Urahara held out his hand to silence Rukia, "The reason why he has no amount is because he has no definite amount of Reiryoku stored in his body. It increases constantly, in small spikes but it's enough to establish him to captain level in terms of pure Reiryoku and he'll just go from there. It's like he's constantly evolving."

"Kuchiki-san, I think you may have found a golden egg." Urahara mentioned with a grin on his face while Rukia asked the man once more, "Doesn't that sound bad?"

Urahara shook his head, "Oh no, not at all. Apparently, his body is adjusting to the latent Reiryoku stored in his body and releasing some of the Reiryoku itself outwards in order for his body to regulate. He's constantly producing them, and should in theory, never run out."

Rukia looked thoughtful at this, "That's the first time I've heard of such a condition."

"It's the same for me as well." Kisuke replied as he then sat down by the wooden stairs.

"Kisuke-san, Kurosaki-san has woken up!" The little girl shouted from the inside

"GET ME OUT OF HERE! I'LL FUCKING MURDER THAT SANDAL HAT!"

Urahara looked back to where the sound was and commanded his living mates, "Oh? He recovered from that so quickly. Jinta-kun! Help Ururu-chan and Tessai-san prepare the morphine!"

"GET ME OUT OF HERE! I SWEAR I'LL RIP YOU OPEN, YOU BASTARD! I'LL GUT YOU LIKE A FI- Hey, what's that? W-what are you doing?"

"Just some medicines to send you to a happy land, Kurosaki-kun, now please sit still…"

"NO! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING DRUG ME? GET THAT THING AWA- OW!"

A few seconds later, the struggling stopped along with the yelling.

"Where'd you get the morphine, Kisuke? I've never heard you were a doctor." Rukia suddenly interrupted. The man simply chuckled beneath his fan and said, "That, Kuchiki-san, is a highly kept secret of my trade."

The middle aged rugged man then gave a small chuckle.

Rukia looked at Kisuke rather suspiciously but decided not to press any further. Just talking to the man was enough to drive her mad. Whatever dealings this guy had outside was none of her business. It was best to keep quiet about it.

"Kisuke-san, Kurosaki-san is disoriented right now." A little girl's voice cried out and Kisuke nodded.

"Remove the straps, Ururu-chan, I think it's time to take him home."

"Oh, you're going to escort him home, Urahara? That's a very good offer…"

"You misunderstand me, Kuchiki-san. I'm just removing the straps and passing the buck to you. Now if you want my services to bring Kurosaki-san home, that would cost you a certain amount." Kisuke then rubbed his hands together as if he was expecting some monetary compensation on his part.

Rukia's eyebrow was twitching. If her brother finds out she'd been spending their fortune on something as trivial as this, she was utterly doomed. But she couldn't possibly carry a person bigger than her, no matter how she looked at it. Ichigo was taller and bigger than her.

With a sigh, Rukia relented to Kisuke's offer and coughed up her credit card. Instantly, Kisuke swiped the card into the machine he had near the desk and shouted at his subordinate, "Tessai-san! Please carry Kurosaki-kun with you and escort them home!"

She was right. Byakuya was going to kill her.

* * *

Somewhere:

The first thing that came back to her was her sense of hearing; she could hear the faint sounds boiling water, the grinding of mortar and pestle, and a beeping sound in constant rhythm. Slowly, her sense of touch returned. She noticed that her right hand couldn't move as it felt like it was strapped on with something. Then, her sense of smell returned, the mixture of old storage and antiseptic invaded her nose. Was she in some clinic, perhaps?

"Well, I got the medicine you asked for, Chopper. By the way, have you seen Zoro?" The voice asked, from the sound of it, it was male. She didn't even recognize his voice so she was safe for now.

"No, Sanji, I haven't seen him since he went to the bathroom." Another one answered. This time, the voice was quite small, almost childish, but it was a bit raspy.

"But that was two hours ago! What the hell is that idiot doing?"

"Beats me, but do remember this is Zoro we're talking about."

"Are you suggesting that he could get lost even in his own hideout?"

"Well given his track record, I can't say it's not entirely out there. Why are you asking anyway?"

"Luffy was looking for him. He said something about Zoro not doing a good job in beating the rest of Arlong's group and how he was going to give Marimo a scolding."

A new voice then interrupted him, "Sanji! Can you prepare me something to eat? I'm hungry!"

"Didn't you eat just an hour ago? And why should I be the one to give you food?"

Another voice quickly added, this time, it was a girl's "Sanji, can you fix up these Salmon I just got? You're better at cooking than me and I'm starving."

"YES, NAMI-CHWAN!"

The sound of footsteps was then heard hitting the ground rapidly.

It was then that she slowly opened her eyes.

At first, it was blurry, the blinding light had mostly covered her vision and her eyes squinted a little, raising her hand to shield her sight from the white light. Her vision then began to clarify. She could see wooden beams that supported the galvanized iron that acted as a roof. She looked to her right and saw white walls, wooden tables that looked worn, and countless fragile containers sitting on them. Funny enough though, instead of feeling stuffy, it was quite cool inside.

"Ah, so you're awake. That's good!" A voice interrupted her thoughts for a second. She turned around, and suddenly had the urge to jump away.

In front of her was what looked like a deer, it was standing on two legs, wearing a white lab coat and a pink silk hat and standing over a wooden stool chair. She must be dreaming, because there was no way in hell this little freak of nature could talk, let alone be the one to nurse her back to health!

"You gave us quite a scare there, lady." The deer continued, the girl with the aquamarine hair, merely stood quiet and without further ado, fainted on the spot.

"H-Hey, don't go back to sleep immediately!" Chopper shouted very worriedly and the reindeer caught the girl before she even managed to hit her head on the edge of her bed.

"What's going on here?" Zoro suddenly barged in, his arms in his pocket as he looked at Chopper who was supporting the unconscious girl.

"S-She woke up for a few seconds and then she collapsed again!" Chopper hurriedly said in a panic.

Zoro scratched his head at this, does the girl have some sort disease or something? She sure was a weird one. Ah well, not like their little group doesn't attract misfits, they had a talking moose for God's sake!

Further musings would have to be left aside for now since the subject suddenly changed when Sanji walked in.

"Hey, Marimo, where the hell have you been? El Capitan over there has been driving me up the wall for the past two hours looking for you. Where'd you take a piss anyway, on the other side of town?"

Zoro looked rather annoyed at that, "For your information, I have not intended for things to end up like that. It just sort of… Happened…"

If anything, Sanji would have suspected that Zoro would be up to something. There was simply no way that someone was this directionally inept that he would end up in another part of town just to do his business. Yet Zoro was practically the laziest member of the crew. If he didn't train, he'd be sleeping. If he wasn't sleeping he was just swinging a wooden sword or sometimes a stick with weights on. The swordsman was simple minded, there was no way any form of machinations would occur in that brain of his. Sure he was a great fighter, he had to admit. But Zoro was the kind of guy who would just say, "Fuck it, whatever."

Chopper couldn't even figure out what kind of disease Zoro has that he'd get lost on his own way home, something anyone would have never thought possible. Hell, he'd probably get lost walking on a straight line.

"You know, you should be honest about your disability, Zoro, maybe a trip with a therapist should help!" The reindeer reminded him.

"I am not going to therapy." Zoro shot that down as it was easily suggested.

Sanji simply smirked at this while lighting up a cigarette, "Not really helping, Marimo. Do remember that you got lost going back home just a week ago."

"I did not. And for your information, I made a detour before I went back home." Zoro defended. Sanji's incredibly annoying smirk simply grew.

"You call going to Shinjuku and back a detour?" At that question, Sanji simply laughed.

"I had to buy some clothes. Some were getting worn out. Shut up." Zoro instantly said as he turned his back from the trainee chef all the while muttering about stupid snarky chefs and their womanizing habits.

"Zoro, where the hell have you been? I have a bone to pick with you!" Shouted their fearless leader as the swordsman simply shook his head.

"I took a leak!" Zoro shouted back at their leader who asked rather incredulously, "For two hours? Do you have a bladder problem or something? I bet Chopper could help!"

Zoro palmed his face at this. He was not having a good day.

Before he could come up with another remark questioning Luffy's intelligence, a small feminine groan escaped the room as their patient had once again regained consciousness.

"What a weird dream. I dreamt I woke up in a dingy little clinic with a talking deer dressed up like a doctor." She murmured.

"I'm a reindeer, actually." Chopper sincerely corrected. It was bad enough that Zorro and Sanji keep mistaking him for a moose. At least this one was close enough to the species!

The girl stopped her murmuring rant and with a startled expression, looked over at the reindeer who was waving its hands… err hoofs, back at her.

The girl promptly fainted once more.

"Why does she always do that?" Chopper asked. He wasn't that scary was he? Maybe his other forms would be but this has got to be his cutest form yet!

"Maybe you should let Nami do the welcoming, Chopper. A talking moose isn't exactly something you would find as normal." Zorro remarked, mistaking a moose for Chopper's appearance once more.

"Zorro, for the last time, I'm a reindeer."

"Moose, reindeer, antelope, what's the difference?"

Chopper may not be a normal being, but he sure as hell wasn't stupid. He had to ask himself why he continues to be part of this small band of misfits. If he were as human looking as possible, he would have had a license already in practicing his chosen art. He would lead a normal life and not even know of Luffy and the others. He wouldn't have gone along with this group of misinformed and practically clueless group.

Suddenly, he heard Zorro's voice shouting at their fearless leader, "LUFFY, DON'T SWING THAT AROUND YOU'LL HURT YOURSEL…"

SNICKT!

"Ouch! My arm! Chopper, help me!"

Oh, right, because if he left this group alone, they would have most likely killed themselves one way or another.

* * *

Back with Naruto:

Dinner was rather pleasant.

That is, if anyone could call a large banquet something pleasant, then that would mean that someone was either a rich snob who wanted to look snooty or a complete douchebag.

'_S-Shitake mushrooms? These guys don't know how to hold back in the budget!' _Sakura thought as she stared at the food, her eyes wide as dinner plates. She had never tasted this type of mushroom before. Her rather humble lifestyle prevented her from ever grasping a good meal that involved the said ingredient.

To her side, she saw Hinata picking her food with a poised grace fit for a lady. Her delicate hands seemed to have a grace of a dove as she picked a small piece of fish with her chopsticks. Sakura shouldn't be surprised, though. Hinata was well known in the corps as the eldest daughter of the Hyuuga group's leader, Hiashi, a highly respected individual in the world of business and a major shares holder in several real-estate companies. Manners were probably something she had been taught in since she was younger.

She didn't understand the girl, though. A daughter of a wealthy family, most likely the next in line to take over the family business, was a member of the corps? She could understand Neji's position in it. He wasn't part of the main family that handles the finances of the Hyuuga Clan as a whole. Her life was already made! So why was she risking her neck in something as dangerous as the corps?

She would never get that girl. To her other side was Sai, now sporting a black eye and a swollen cheek. Call her thighs fat, does he? Well now Sai just experienced first hand the power of Tsunade's teachings consisting of her fists and _fat_ legs that Sai kept on insisting!

"Sai, are you alright? Can you chew properly with your face like that?" Kushina asked worriedly while Sai, who had the balls to sit on his attacker's side, simply smiled at the woman's concern and shook his head before replying.

"No, I'm sure I'll be fine, madamme. I've dealt with worse things than Sakura's manly arms and fat thighs."

On the other side of the table, Sasuke chocked on his tea as he snickered and Sakura's chopsticks snapped into several pieces as she held it with her right hand. This was the best idea he's ever had so far. He endured a day of humiliation and disappointment towards his team and their protectorate, the least he could do to get some of his dignity back was to watch other people lower theirs.

A palpable silence reigned in the dining table as murderous intent filled the room. Naruto, oblivious to everything around him, kept on eating and grabbing a slice of yakiniku on the table.

"Sai-san, when you're on the table, please restrain yourself from throwing insults." Kushina kindly reminded the boy. Although that comment did deserve a punch or two coming from Sakura, Kushina wouldn't have any form of mindless violence on her table, deserving of such or otherwise.

A new pair of chopsticks was given to Sakura courtesy of the butler as she resumed eating, but not before kicking Sai in the shin.

The pale boy flinched from Sakura's blow to his knee as he almost dropped his chopsticks when he felt the kick.

"So how do you like the meal?" Kushina asked to their guests and they all turned to the hostess. Hinata answered politely, "It is wonderful, Kushina-sama. I could only wish that the chefs in our house would make something as excellent as this."

Kushina sheepishly smiled at the Hyuuga and scratched the back of her head in an undignified manner, "Well, Genma may have helped prepare some of the meals here, but I was the cook for tonight. Thanks for the compliment, though, it's been a while since I've had a decent chance to prepare meals."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, "Mom makes the best ramen, ever! You guys should try it sometime when you come by here!"

Kushina, feeling a little embarrassed, slapped her son across the back causing Naruto to cough uncontrollably and bent on the table as she said, "Aw, now you're just embellishing! Stop it, you're embarrassing me!"

Naruto answered with a hacking cough.

Aside from another inadvertent insult coming from the clueless Sai, dinner went by smoothly, relatively speaking.

Evening soon came late as the quartet was being escorted to the ground floor by Naruto and the relatively sickly looking butler, Hayate.

The whole incident in the elevator, was in a word, unpleasant.

At least that's what Hinata had thought. The whole trip down was filled with tension coming from Sakura as she glared at her teammate. Sasuke in the meanwhile, was waiting impatiently for the elevator to take them down. The whole day was just unbelievably full of just plain silly amount of incidents made up of either terrible luck or poor judgement coming on their part. The Uchiha couldn't wait to get home and sleep the whole thing off. It was like living in a nightmare, Kakashi would probably lecture them for the next meeting though, seeing as they had almost let the heir get caught in a brawl they had nothing to do with.

Thankfully, the mother was forgiving and the child was just as dense as a rock. He wouldn't know what to think if word got out that their team almost had the heir get killed because they had assumed that Naruto went down stairs to greet the thugs.

"U-um… You don't have to escort us towards the entrance, Namikaze-sama." Hinata mentioned politely as the blonde simply grinned at her and scratching the back of his head.

"Well, I feel bad that you would just leave my house like that at this hour and mom allowed me to go and take you guys home so…"

Sasuke simply scoffed this off, "Don't worry about me, I've got no curfew given, worry about the girls instead. Especially the Hyuuga, she lives in the other side of town."

Sai then helpfully added, "That's right, Uchiha-san has…"

It was then that the conversation got serious. Sakura immediately glared at Sai at this. Family was a difficult matter to speak around Sasuke after all. The Uchiha didn't like talking about his familial problems with anyone. Especially to the heir who had a doting mother to his well being. Sasuke may have just now realized it, but perhaps why he was in a sour mood today (not like he isn't in every other day) and why he didn't like being in the condo unit for long was because of Kushina.

It brought memories of his long dead mother in his mind.

"Sai, that topic is strictly off limits." Sakura had warned the former Special Forces member.

Sasuke simply glared at the pale boy and kept quiet throughout the whole descent.

Once the elevator had made it to the ground floor, the group was already out, with Sasuke heading in the opposite direction as the rest of them.

"Sasuke, there'll be a car that would be taking you guys to your homes. You don't want to ride there?"

The Uchiha simply turned his back and gave an offhanded reply, "I don't need it. I can get home safely on my own."

Instead of being insulted, Naruto replied with smile at that and said to the Uchiha, "Well okay, if that's what you want. You're sure you're alright by yourself?"

Sasuke's face contorted to annoyance once more.

"I'll be fine, Namikaze-sama. You don't need to worry about me."

"Well, okay." Naruto mentioned as he turned back towards the people who were waiting for him. But not before looking back at Sasuke and asking him one more time.

"Are you _really _sure?" He asked. By now, a tick mark was growing on Sasuke's head. He wanted to scream at the blonde and tell him to leave him alone. But he doubted that the heir would be discouraged by his wordless growling. It seemed body language wasn't in Naruto's consistently lacking qualities in social interaction.

"You really need to be more sensitive about what other people are feeling, Namikaze-sama." The Uchiha remarked, and for some reason, he never felt a sharp stinging pain on his back or the words giving out an ironic echo back to him.

"Well, if that's what you want, I mean, I guess I can't force you to come along with us…" Naruto rambled and Sasuke simply rolled his eyes before walking away. Naruto simply watched in curiosity as Sasuke left the building unsure of what to think about his taciturn friend.

It was the first time that he had seen someone openly deny any extension of help and it was making him feel uncertain. What was it with Sasuke and his rather bleak emotions that continue to stir within his mind? He couldn't understand Sasuke.

He had to forego those thoughts first, however, as he looked back towards his other companions, patiently waiting for him by the car. By the side, stood Hayate, holding the door open while a man wearing a pair of shades was casually waiting by the driver's seat.

"Naruto-sama, your friends are waiting."

Naruto wordlessly nodded and went inside the car, but not before looking back to where Sasuke had disappeared.

* * *

Somewhere in the Uptown:

A man walked around his rather extravagant looking condo unit. He looked rather distressed as he kept smoking his tobacco. His agents had been hard at work in tracking down a certain person for over a month! It had cost him a hefty amount of fortune to even find her!

He needed her. The girl had what he wanted, the key in taking over Arabasta's conglomerate empire. He was so close. So close that what little patience he had was wearing thin. They almost had her two days ago! Almost! If not for a ward from Arabasta's group, he would have gained that leverage! He could have already absorbed the mighty Arabasta group into his own!

Now she was gone from his grasp again, fleeting from him. She could feel her trail was getting colder once more. She had once again eluded his vision. He could swear that his own agents were out to make sure they didn't capture her. After all, the ward, from what he had heard from Ms. All Sunday, was weak and frail. It didn't seem to make sense that his target would escape so easily! Or is it that she escaped out of dumb luck?

It was most likely the latter. Even though it was probably the main reason, it didn't seem to appease his anger for one bit. What he wouldn't give if putting that ward's head on a pike right now.

He arranged his slightly wrinkled tailor made fur coat, as he paced about in his room. Putting down the offending cancer stick in his mouth, the scarred man opened a bottle of one his most favourite brand of liquors that he had stashed. Hopefully, the stress brought upon by this massive failure would be subsided by the numbing touch of the alcohol.

"Stressed, Mr. Zero?" A voice asked and the man in question turned around, looking at the source of this voice.

"Ms. All Sunday, what do you have to report?" Was all he mentioned, he hated dawdling and pointless banter. He didn't feel like putting up with worthless banter right now. Right now, it was all business.

"There's someone that would like to meet with you, he says it's a business proposal." The woman said with a smile as she adjusted her white hat before vanishing from the room entirely.

Crocodile merely held his nose up high as he walked towards the door, drinking the whiskey in his glass to the last drop.

"Let's just hope it's not some small time hack." He muttered to himself before exiting out to the front door. He'll deal with Arabasta later, right now, he had to see for himself just who the person that had enough balls to strike a deal with him.

* * *

Shinobi Corps, Konoha:

Tsunade had been scanning over the current mission report submitted to her by Sarutobi Asuma. His team had just finished apprehending a long time drug pusher near Shibuya. Granted, it had been hard to tail the man with that much experience in avoiding their trackers and it was just an unreasonable amount of luck that Chouji just happened to stumble on the criminal while he was buying a large order of Takoyaki (Grilled Squid Balls). Needless to say, spilling all of those treats in front of the 'pleasantly plump' boy was a sacrilege not worth testing.

"So I've heard you've given the assignment of guarding the Namikaze heir to Kakashi's squad. I know that it seems like a simple mission, but this is Konoha's bread and butter we're talking about. If something were to happen to him…"

"Asuma…" Tsunade interrupted him, her gaze stern as she stared into the director's son.

"I appreciate your concern, but Kakashi's squad is enough. As of yet, people are still unaware of the fact that Naruto is in here. I'll begin taking more action if any form of hostility that Team Kakashi can't handle takes place. Besides, Kurenai's team member is there as well. The boy will be safe." Tsunade assured. Even SHE can bet on that.

Just as Asuma looked quite satisfied with her argument, her phone rang, setting her work aside for a moment. Just as she picked up the phone, she quickly recognized Jiraiya's voice.

'_Tsunade, this is bad. Those idiots of the Namikaze household just announced Naruto's missing whereabouts. They didn't try to keep it__ to themselves!'_

To this, Tsunade inwardly cursed. Those idiots! Don't they know what they've done?

"Shit! And I was willing to bet that the kid would be perfectly safe here! I want details, pervert! I want to know how long and what kind of information did they release to the public!"

'_Well your stupid bet probably jinxed it! Just three hours ago in Kyoto, an informant of mine mentioned the heir of the Namikaze household missing. Complete with an image!' _

"AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS, NOW?" Tsunade promptly stood up, causing her chair to roll back because of Tsunade's sudden movement.

'_I was coordinating with the other branch offices. They kept calling me about the situation for the past three hours and they're scrambling all around the country to find Naruto! The other members of the nine houses are issuing a bounty to get Naruto back to the household as soon as possible!'_

Tsunade cursed. The situation couldn't have gotten worse. If they put a reward for Naruto capture right now, most likely, the bounty hunters would be sprouting all around the country like mushrooms.

"Didn't Kushina tell them she found him?" Tsunade asked, Jiraiya quickly answered her.

'_No. Apparently, the household is still under the impression that Naruto's still missing and that she's still searching for him. She never notified any of them after her leave from the manor.'_

"That moron, when I get my hands on her, I'll clock her head!" Tsunade hollered in her office as she asked Jiraiya one more question.

"Have they got any leads?" Tsunade asked. She was desperately trying to calm down.

'_Fortunately, no, my team is covering any trail that may lead them to Naruto.__ Right now, the best idea is to let Naruto lay low. He doesn't need the unnecessary attention. But we can't hold them off for long. Tsunade, I should warn you, though. There might be another force that's making this happen. I'll look into it further, but for now you need to go and reinforce Naruto's safety. I fear that it isn't just the Namikaze household that's after him.'_

Tsunade wordlessly noted her teammate's precaution to her. Truth be told, even she had doubts about the whole scenario. The Namikaze household would have contacted them first before anything else. It was probably the cause of the panic in the other branches and the remaining houses. Tsunade wished she had an idea on what was going on but she would put the burden of finding out what was really happening Jiraiya's shoulders for a moment as she needed to do her part.

"Asuma, you're dismissed." Tsunade said and the Sarutobi wordlessly nodded. He didn't know what Tsunade was talking about but by the sound of her voice, it was most likely serious. He could feel his spine tingling ever so slightly as he walked out, mindful of the ominous chill he felt. Something was definitely about to go down. He was sure of it.

As Tsunade paced around her room thinking of a way to keep Naruto from ever being publicly known in their town, she looked at her desk with all the messy paperwork that she was doing. She scowled and grumbled when they fell on to the floor, a look of annoyance and frustration escaped her.

She was about to pick up the papers sprawled on the floor of her office when she immediately noticed something.

Her eyes widened in realization and quickly, she clumsily scrambled towards her intercom and calling for her secretary to do something for her.

'_Damn it. Kakashi should be notified for this!'

* * *

_

Somewhere in the Uptown:

Crocodile sat at the lobby's lounge area where a midget of a man waited for him, he was wearing a typical business suit and sat with a rather worn out looking cane in both his hands. His eyes were covered with a pair of round sunglasses and his grey hair was long for someone of his stature, going to his back. Along with that crooked smile he wore, Crocodile's interest grew slightly.

"Ah, finally the infamous Crocodile makes time for little ole' me." The man joked. Crocodile merely grunted in response.

Little and old were the perfect descriptions for this man.

"I don't have time for small talk, what business do you have with me? And you better make it worthwhile because I've had a very trying week." Crocodile mentioned and sat on the opposite chair, arms crossed and puffing more tobacco to his mouth.

"Ah yes, I'll try to stay straight to the point then. Pardon me, I've been very inconsiderate, I've never even introduced myself, my name is Gato." The man said, extending his ring laden hand. Crocodile merely eyed the man's hand before scoffing it off. Obviously, he knew just who this guy was. Gato was giant shipping magnate. He had been controlling Japan's southern seas for quite some time. Recently, there was a scandal that involved his company in coercing a small time village by the shores to Okinawa that and the smuggling of illegal drugs from their neighbouring country. Since then, the negative publicity brought forth an embargo to his shipping company for the last few weeks and his assets had been frozen by order of the Japanese government for investigation.

"Not one for pleasantries, I assume. Very well, I'll get this over with." The man leaned back from his chair and began speaking.

"I heard you want to take over the Arabasta conglomerate, not something I would expect from a man who likes to remain underground and continue his operations of selling arms."

Crocodile's patience was wearing thin. Gato, sensing he was already treading on thin ice, proposed, "I'm a major stockholder of that company, I can give you access to the company itself and slowly take it over from there. What I only need is one thing from you."

Now Crocodile's interest grew instantly, this man had deals with the Arabasta? It wouldn't make sense! The company would have retrieved their stocks from Gato after that scandal. So either Gato was bluffing, or that he had enough money to buy back the stocks he had lost. It was most likely the former.

Crocodile contemplated about the whole thing and decided to take a nibble in Gato's offer.

"If I do agree to your terms, what do I have to give _you_?" Crocodile said with a calculating stare at the man. Gato grinned, "I've heard your agents are the best on the field when it comes to disposing and abducting certain figures. All I'm asking is if you lend me one of your lackeys in dealing with a nuisance."

The shrewd businessman said that last word with a pause, Crocodile simply remained quiet. So this man wanted to get rid of someone, hmm? Certainly, Gato was offering far more than what he wanted. Crocodile inwardly scowled at this, was this little imp setting up a trap against him? Or is it that he had a big enough threat would warrant in giving away a huge sum of his fortune on someone? Crocodile seemed very intrigued by this.

"Why should I loan my services to you, Gato? I can handle taking over my rival's company just fine. You, however, are struggling if it means you're asking help from ME. Don't forget, I hold far more leverage against you right now. Even if I don't agree to your terms, I've got nothing to lose."

Gato's smile flinched and suddenly turned into a scowl.

"I've got shipments ranging from band aids to C4, don't underestimate me, Crocodile. If you don't want me cutting off the line for your arms dealing or even worse, exposing your smoke covered ass, I suggest you cooperate." Gato threatened.

Crocodile, for the first time that night, gave a wicked grin.

"You've got guts threatening me, you little shit. Do you even know what that entails?" Crocodile stood from his seat, easily towering the midget of a man that Gato was.

"I'm Crocodile, one of the Seven Fierce Warlords of the underworld. You think you can stand up to me just like that, surface dweller?"

Gato somewhat trembled from his seat as the scarred man grinned from ear to ear staring down at him. Crocodile sent chills down his spine, that he couldn't deny. This man, standing right in front of him, looked like a statue of a fierce demon, belittling him and mocking his insignificant existence.

"You either have real guts or you're just plain stupid. Either way, I'm going to agree to your terms, on one condition." Crocodile then called for Ms. All Sunday to get one of his best agents to be loaned before he continued to say to Gato, "I want you to give me the heir of the Namikaze household and the daughter of the Arabasta CEO, preferably alive."

Gato's eyes visibly widened.

"That's right, if you hadn't heard, that clan is offering a hefty amount of money just to retrieve the heir to their house. Apparently, he went missing and no one knows where he is right now."

"You're after the bounty?" Gato asked while Crocodile gave that sneer of his, "No, I'm after bigger fish, actually."

Realizing what Crocodile had in mind, Gato gave an off handed comment, "You're crazy. The Corps would have your head."

Crocodile merely snorted at this as he proclaimed, "I'd like to see them try."

"Mr. Zero, I've brought the agent you've asked for."

Crocodile simply grinned.

"I hope you don't mind working for my _business partner_ for a while. I take it you've already heard what you're tasked to do?"

The shadow behind Crocodile gave a haphazard reply, "Your VP just told me. Really, I don't know why she even asked me to come here if she was going to give me the details of my next mission other than to meet and greet. What I don't get is why do you still keep her aside from her big rack?"

The woman gave a reply with a smile to the man behind the shadows, "Now, now, you really should respect your superiors. Do remember that if it wasn't for me, you'd still have the Corps on your tail right now."

The shadowed figure merely growled at the woman before turning back towards their leader.

"You really want to do this? Because once you do this, you'll be facing not just the nine noble houses; you'll be facing the full brunt of the corps itself."

The tall businessman couldn't give a care about it.

"If they come after me, I'll be ready for them." He said with no fear in his words. He revealed the golden hook he now had for his left hand. Aside from the standard oversized hook, the base of the offending object was spherical and seemed to fit quite nicely for his hand.

"It doesn't make this any easier." The man from the shadows soon stepped out. Gato took a good look at the man and noticed that he was wearing one of the standard uniforms that the corps uses. It was a navy blue fatigue uniform with matching navy blue pants and black leather boots. His hands, lower legs and half of his face were covered in bandages and a slashed forehead protector was wrapped rather haphazardly on his head. To his side, was scroll neatly wrapped and placed vertically, like how a gun was supposed to be holstered.

The man looked down at Gato with no sign of respect as he said, "You're this guy's new partner, eh? The name's Momochi Zabuza and you best remember it, shrimp."

Crocodile frowned a little at this new recruit's current disobedience to the rules.

"Do remember we have protocols here, Zabuza. You may be a deserter, but you follow my rules."

Zabuza merely turned his back towards the businessman and said, "I'm not tied up in those stinking rules. I only joined your little posse to earn some cash then I'm gone."

Crocodile shook his head at Zabuza before turning his back on the shinobi.

"Have it your way, then, fool. But if either you get caught or killed, I'm not bailing you out." Crocodile finally said before going back to his unit. Zabuza merely scoffed that off as a hapless remark. That man barely knows how he operates. He should take note that capturing missions wasn't his forte. It wouldn't be his fault if the heir lost a leg or two after this. That would be his employer's fault for assigning the wrong guy for the job.

* * *

To be continued…

I got really bummed out for personal reasons so I couldn't find a thing to write about until I could force myself. :/

The good news is I'm really putting more time in my writing right now. The bad news is my creative bone is currently lost.

On to more important matters, Crossing the River Gates is about six pages and Unwanted Travelling is four pages. The problem is it looks like I'll be busy this month along with several more weeks after it.

* * *

Now for some Questions that need answering:

**Are there a lot of canon elements from the three series that I'll skip?**

Some, but most definitely, I'll just retune it a little for important plot points.

**What about summons****? How's that going to work?**

Adapting them here was easier than I imagined. Gamabunta, Katsuyu and Manda will be referenced, but not in the way that you would expect. The toad sages will appear differently, and it's a big thing.

**Which major story arc will I do first?**

Surprisingly, it's Bleach. I know I've now established a tie of the One Piece story with the Naruto one in this chapter, but it would be a while before anything from the heroes would happen and Bleach's first arc would be the best in dealing with introductions of powers/rules/tests etcetera before moving on to the rest.

**What are the Pairings?**

Honestly? It's much too early to say. But I want to say that it would definitely depend on my mood if I even want it to develop or not. Most of the time, I give a lot of ship tease but no follow through. To me, I don't think I can manage a couple in a story mostly concentrated on friends and having fun.


	5. Who are you going to call?

Shounen Town

Chapter Five: Who are you going to call?

* * *

'_Ghostbusters!'_

The sound of the television set on was enough to bring Ichigo once more into the realm of the living. Strangely, he felt his body being heavy enough that it felt like he was lifting a truck, it wasn't painful per se, but the feeling was like he had been in something awful was there. This, coupled with a minor headache and waking up in the sofa, earned him a small groan escaping from his mouth. His blurry vision became much clearer when he slowly sat back up.

"Onii-chan, you shouldn't be up yet! You were really out of it last night!" His sister, Yuzu, immediately shouted. Ichigo clutched his head, when he replied to his sibling.

"Last night? What happened last night?" Ichigo muttered between bouts of pain in his head. He couldn't really recall the events that happened except for the fact that Rukia had coaxed him to be examined about his condition.

"A classmate of yours had you being carried by one of her friends. She said you had too much to drink last night and you vomited on her carpet." Yuzu said with a stern gaze. She had never pegged her brother to be such a hooligan, though. Ichigo would sometimes come home battered and bruised, but that only happened if he was just fighting another bully.

But this? She had never looked at his brother as one who disregarded the 'strictly-no-alcohol-for-minors' law.

Ichigo was ignoring her sister's look of disapproval in favor of recalling the events that occurred the night before. He could remember Rukia dragging him off to see someone and examine his condition but after that, everything was a blur, he couldn't even remember where the man in question was and what he looked like. All he could remember where a lot of screams, two kids who he had no recollection of what they looked like, and lots of green; a whole lot of it.

"Really, Ichi-nii, if you want to get shitfaced, that's fine with us. But be sure to inform us before you do and where you are. It was embarrassing seeing you like that." Karin, one of his sisters mentioned. The girl was the total opposite of Yuzu. Whereas Yuzu was quite the mother hen, Karin was aloof much like himself. Yuzu was patient, and Karin had a temper almost as bad as he had. Whereas Yuzu was more concerned about his well being when she presented her a nice cup of coffee, Karin simply remained there in presence and watched Television to wait for him to wake up.

It was a nice contrast in personality, and even though they were total opposites, they got along well.

"Karin-chan, you should be more concerned about Onii-chan! He was looking so terrible yesterday!" The other girl reprimanded, Karin didn't even bat an eyelash at that statement.

"Ichi-nii looked like he had the time of his life though. If we didn't know better, I'd say he was drugged." The other girl shrugged.

As if something had clicked in his head, Ichigo looked at Karin for a moment and mentally asked himself, _'Drugged?'_

Certainly, it felt like that, he felt worn out and heavily influenced.

'_Something about sending me to my place?'_ Ichigo thought in inquiry, the amount of information his brain attained was still impossible to decipher at the moment, but Karin's words surely triggered something in there. What it is, however, he didn't have a slightest clue.

Before he could arrive to an answer, he looked around, it was morning already and from the watch on the wall, it was close to eight.

"SHIT! I'VE GOT TO GET TO SCHOOL!"

Ichigo practically bolted out of the couch and ran upstairs, forgetting about the fact that he was excused today along with his sisters.

Much later:

Ichigo was making a mad dash towards the school running in long strides and bounds and leaving a trail of dust in his wake. He had almost never noticed in his panic though, that he somehow had gained more speed while running and that by the time he had reached his fourth block, he still wasn't winded. He had to ask Rukia once he sees her, just what happened when she stabbed him with her sword?

To his side, he saw an equally panicked looking Luffy who was also making a mad dash towards school; only the stretching boy had a piece of meat and toast stuck in his mouth.

Eating while running? Well that certainly is something new.

"Ahm hate, ahm hate, ahm hate!" The boy said with a mouthful as both of them turned to a corner in perfect synchronization. A few of the crumbs and saliva managed to find its way on Ichigo's uniform.

"THAT IS DISGUSTING, YOU ASSHAT!" Ichigo shouted vehemently on Luffy who spilled more crumbs and spit as he tried to apologize. Ichigo simply gagged at the boy's ugly mannerisms and noticed that they had unknowingly jumped over a seven foot tall iron gate.

Kagine, who had been standing behind the Iron Gate with that confident smug on his face earlier, watched in surprise and fascination as he saw the two boys jump over he gate like it was nothing. It looked like everything slowed down as two pairs of feet landed straight to his face.

Ichigo let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, at least I'm not late." Ichigo declared as he started to make his way inside when he saw that kid with the stitch to his face finishing his breakfast.

"Who's not late?" A voice suddenly called out from behind the both of them when they saw Kagine having two sets of foot marks over his face. Luffy couldn't help but laugh while Ichigo wondered just how the hell he got the marks of his face and looked on his right shoe. He had thought he stepped on something squishy. Maybe he broke this guy's ugly mug?

Seeing as Ichigo looked like he wasn't about to apologize for what he did or that Luffy had never any intention of ever saying he was sorry made Kagine grind his teeth out of fury and anger.

"That's it! The both of you go to the principal's office this instant!" Kagine roared loudly as Ichigo sighed and turned away from the muscleman along with Luffy who was still stifling his laughter.

* * *

Shinobi Corps, Konoha Branch:

Everybody who had now known the news of the current heir missing in the Namikaze estate was in a panic. The whole administration inside was scurrying about as countless office grunts ran from one cubicle to another and carrying countless documents in their hands.

The day was hectic for everyone. Not only were bounty hunters soon reported tracking down the lost Namikaze heir, there were also people who were interested in something much more than the reward.

This was the problem that came along with a massive nationwide search for someone as important as Naruto. There are people that want the prestige, power and wealth of his household and many of them would not care to be considerate enough of Naruto's welfare. It was why many of the corps members were practically in a panic. Knowing that Naruto also had with him, a fragment of an ancient demon's power was also a factor that was worrying ALL of them the most. The Kyuubi's jewel was just one of the ancient artefacts left over by the fabled Six Path Sage, and although many of the legends surrounding it were more often enough, were called as exaggerations, many of them would not want to tempt fate. So as it stands right now, Jiraiya had foregone his duties in managing the information network for the corps and decided for each section chiefs to discuss the crisis at hand for an emergency meeting, which was why he was currently with Tsunade and her secretary.

Tsunade, Jiraiya and Shizune were making a beeline straight to the conference room without as much as a glance to their sides as it pretty much assured them of what exactly is going on inside the administration building of her department. Inside, there was a large square table and a television projector set in the middle with a camera at the back facing the central chair with the symbol of Konoha just behind it, Jiraiya and Shizune sat adjacent to Tsunade's seat in the middle and as soon as they sat, two of her well known workers began preparing and setting up the equipment for a video conference.

"Izumo, Kotetsu, make sure the door is locked, we don't want anymore interference coming from outside."

The two nodded and made sure that nobody was to disturb this very private meeting that was about to occur.

"Those idiots, I never knew that they were desperate enough to gamble for a bounty just because of the Kyuubi's jewel." Jiraiya murmured with a coarse voice. He hadn't had any sleep for the last twenty-four hours after the news had been announced. He feared for both the safety of the heir and the implications and impact of just what this event might do to the boy. The household should have known better, they were the ones who were entrusted with the teachings of the Rikudo Sennin along with the rest of the noble houses.

Then there was another thing bothering him.

The household was always subtle, if he could remember. The sudden turn of events was way out of what they would normally do it was why he had been fretting so much over it. For the course of at least two decades, he had been in contact with the family ever since he became Minato's teacher and to an extent, the man's wife, Kushina. It was hellish in dealing with the household and telling them of a petulant Minato's desire to serve as a member of their little brigade. They were quiet in the whole matter, but the displeased look that they had was enough of an answer to him. It took a lot of persuasion and talks to get them to understand Minato's plea. In the end, they had allowed him, but they didn't give the same amount of freedom to Naruto after his disappearance. A cost of what Minato had to unknowingly pay.

"I can understand their concern, though. The Kyuubi's jewel accumulates negative emotions from its keeper. So much as a small upset can trigger youki infection and possession." Shizune mentioned as she read at the documents that were with her about the apprehensions last night concerning the hunt for Naruto.

"But this kind of stress to Naruto-sama is something he doesn't need. Although it is indeed imperative that he returns, the kind of stress that he could possibly be put through would channel the Kyuubi closer and closer to this realm." Shizune mentioned, placing another paper on the table and grabbing another.

"Returning would be even more of a problem, Shizune, if he were to be turned over to the household this early on, then he would have still ran away and if he did, then chances are, he won't be as easy to reach as he is now." Tsunade mentioned as the projector finally was on, and to her surprise everybody was already present.

Four faces appeared at the projector, each one coming from the four main branches of the Shinobi corps, from their respective jurisdictions.

"Glad we could finally begin this meeting, Tsunade-dono." The one to the right mentioned. Tsunade recognized the plain looking man with the brown spiky hair. Tsunade merely nodded at the Suna's section chief in acknowledgement, ignoring whatever banter that idiot had to say for now.

"Let's get this over with. I still have a lot to do. Some of the heirs of the noble houses are getting agitated. They're saying that the whim of the Namikaze heir is making them seek what he has." The one with the tan and the white kempt hair mentioned, offhandedly, he had to look to his side just to make a point.

"Of course, we can tell that your brother is one of them, Raikage-dono." The other woman mentioned with a hint of amusement coming from her.

The oldest in their midst, the one with the big red nose, gave a hearty chuckle before saying, "My, my, times sure are changing. I would have never expected this coming out of the noble houses."

Tsunade's eyebrow was twitching, "Enough with the pleasantries, ladies and gentlemen. Let's finish this sooner than expected. All of us have a very trying day ahead."

The four leaders stopped from their banter and looked at Tsunade.

"Yes, well, I can see that this idle talk should be placed some other time, on to pressing matters, then." The oldest of the chiefs noted.

The tanned muscular man nodded, "Honestly, forming a large search party for just one person doesn't seem that feasible. How about sparing a tracking team or two?"

The plain looking man shook his head, "Time is of the essence here, Raikage-dono. If the Namikaze household is panicking and relying in this particular measure, then I daresay it's because the heir has something that they don't want to expose outside."

The other woman scowled at this, her mind working on overdrive as to what exactly the Kazekage was getting at.

"Please elaborate, Kazekage-dono." She requested. If what the Kazekage had been suspecting is as she feared, then there really was a reason for the household to rely on such desperate measures. Tsunade's eyes twitched ever so slightly as Jiraiya did as well.

"Mizukage-dono, you should know well by now to what I'm referring to." The Kazekage gave a smirk to them as he continued, "Of course, it's just a hunch, a mere hypothesis. Besides, don't you think it's…?" He paused for a moment in trying to find the right words to speak before continuing, "… Exciting to see as to what will happen? There has yet to be recorded any known incident that would pertain to a host losing control of the given jewel. Of course, I speak no ill will against the Namikaze heir. Forgive me if you think that way. But I believe we have yet to find a contingency plan if it does happen."

The oldest of the attendees scowled at the Kazekage for this, "Mind your tongue, Kazekage-dono. Putting on such careless thoughts into this matter would doom us all."

The old man then turned to the others, "Indeed, I would recommend a large search party for this ordeal if and indeed that the heir has what I think he has."

The largest of the quintet slammed his arm on his table, creating a sound of it breaking in the video conference.

"He has the Kyuubi's jewel, is that what you're trying to tell us, Kazekage-dono? Is that why the household is in a frantic search for him?"

The Kazekage simply nodded, "I'm afraid so. I've gone and thought a lot about the worst case scenario for the last twenty-four hours and there is a large amount of fear coming from me because of that thought alone. It would be disastrous towards the whole country if it were to happen."

Silence then reigned between the five leaders until Tsunade finally spoke.

"Are you all done with talking about what if scenarios?" The busty section chief of Konoha asked, she was getting much too annoyed about the whole meeting. That and couple with the fact that the Kazekage was looking quite smug in the video conference really tried Tsunade's patience to punch the projector where the Kazekage's face was at.

"Good. Now, with the recent events pertaining to this incident, I take it you weren't all informed that we already have the boy in custody?" Tsunade asked, and three of the four chiefs looked surprised at that, while the remaining one, the Kazekage, simply clicked his tongue.

"So far, he's been under our protection for the past two days. The boy's mother and personal servants are here as well. We haven't had the chance to contact the household in handing him over because the boy was unwilling to go back."

If the Raikage had another desk, he would have slammed it with his arm once more, "That's absurd. It's imperative that he be brought back to the household! The heir's life as do the millions of people residing in this country are at stake here! His petulant cries will get him nowhere!"

"That is what concerns me the most." Jiraiya spoke for the first time during the meeting.

"Returning him to the Namikaze household is a concern worth noting?" The Kazekage asked, this time, he was the one who looked surprised at this statement the most.

"If the Namikaze household desperately needed the boy, they would have contacted us first, especially the director." Spoke the white haired man.

Indeed, that did make sense, but a simple argument like that was never worth anything. The Mizukage however, looked thoughtful for a moment before finally speaking, "Jiraiya-dono, you are very close to the household in question, are you not?"

Jiraiya nodded.

"Mostly to the main family only, the mother, the father and heir; I've visited them frequently a few years back."

The Mizukage nodded before she continued her questioning, "Given your familiarity, what would you say would happen if we do return the heir to the household?"

To this, Jiraiya gave a straight answer, "He would surely run away again, only this time, he would be less trusting to our group. The boy is far too indomitable in spirit. He seeks what he wants to understand and what he wants to know. If that were to be taken from him, he'll just find another way to escape the household and possibly a much more terrible scenario should occur."

His features darkened at this as Tsunade spoke, putting together what Jiraiya had been thinking for the last hour or so.

"The heir, without any form of guidance, would have discovered the harsh world on his own and would have possibly let the Kyuubi take form."

To this, the chiefs scowled at her statement.

Jiraiya finally spoke.

"So what will it be, ladies and gentlemen? We're stuck between a rock and hard place. All of it leading to the worst case scenario possible. What will be our standing?"

Silence reigned once more between them. The old man, the Tsuchikage, spoke, "It is still far too early to tell that the heir apparent will escape the confines of the Namikaze household once more. You tell us as much as a speculation again, Jiraiya-dono."

Jiraiya scoffed at being told by the old man. Wasn't he listening to what the Mizukage asked earlier? Or was the man's age affecting his memory already?

"You don't know the heir apparent like I do, Tsuchikage-dono. The boy is cunning even though he's terribly lacking in social skills. He can get away with just about anything if he wants to. Behind that boy's well meaning nature is a trickster that can deceive you."

The Kazekage simply turned his head at this and scoffed at Jiraiya's remark.

"I doubt that boy could outwit an entire organization." The Kazekage remarked. The Mizukage seemed cautious about this, however.

"Minato-dono would beg to differ, Kazekage-dono."

The Kazekage promptly shut up at that. It was a well known fact that Minato was the father of the heir apparent. What many didn't know, save a few, was the name of the heir himself.

The Raikage simply sighed at this and waved his hand off.

"Smart boy, that heir is." The man commented somehow impressed by the heir.

"He took the Kyuubi's jewel and used it as a shield to restrict any attempts in taking him back without his consent. A bargaining chip worth more than many of us could ever hope for. Leave him be and all hell will break lose, take him back and we'll have doomed ourselves in the process."

The Tsuchikage shook his head. "But he's putting the lives of each and every person in this country for his own personal reasons. We can't just let this stand."

"It's why we've been monitoring his stay here for the past few days. Currently, his curiosity of a basic educational facility is making him forget his quest to look for his father." Tsunade replied.

The Tsuchikage shook his head once more, "That's not the point, Hokage-dono. The heir is in danger for exposure outside of his home. Right now, bounty hunters and those willing to overthrow the power of the nine houses are scouring the country like sharks in the water. Above all, the safety of the country should be placed."

"But we're simply treading on thin ice if it comes to that. The host's emotions are the sustenance of the jewel's power. With enough negative emotions stirring from the heir, the jewel's strength diminishes and breaks letting loose a fragment of the ancient beast. Although there has yet to be a phenomenon to occur, I am not about to take that risk." The Mizukage voiced her opinion on the matter before finally saying, "We let the heir go back to Kyoto on his own volition. The boy will come back when he wants to. That seems to be what your group has in mind, Hokage-dono?"

Tsunade agreed to the Mizukage's statements.

The Raikage now seemed to nod in agreement, "That seems to be the best course of action right now."

"There IS another way, though." The Kazekage mentioned, as the four leaders turned back to Suna's section chief.

"Separate the boy and the jewel."

Everyone was silent at that. Tsunade was scowling at the man right then and there. What the man was saying was something worse than what the old fogey had been insisting. The Kyuubi's Jewel was an artefact that acted like a parasite in order to gain energy. It clings on to the host once it merges and from there, feeds itself with the emotions that the host usually gives. Positive emotions such as joy and laughter strengthened the jewel's hold on the monster supposedly residing within it. However, if Negative emotions were to be bombarded on the host, such as fear and genuine hatred, the power of the jewel weakens and the host becomes vulnerable to the possession of the demon residing in it. A very real and scary threat about the whole thing was that the jewel and host becomes totally dependent on one another as time passed. If the two were to be separated forcefully, the jewel would absorb all types of energy coming from the host and it included the said host's life energy, killing him in the process. Minato had discovered a way to remove the jewel in his person without killing him. But the technique was lost with Minato when he went missing all those years ago.

"It is rather unfortunate that it has come to this. But the heir's petulant cries shall not be heard. Tsuchikage-dono has the right idea, but the wrong way to go about it. It's a matter of everyone's safety, a life of one doesn't compare to the lives of millions."

"Rejected!" The Raikage was quick to retort.

The Tsuchikage simply snorted in disgust, "Kazekage-dono, your tongue has been quite venomous lately. Has your position blinded you by saying we should resort in exterminating the heir apparent?"

There was palpable amount of tension in the air as silence became like a thick blanket between all five of them, some were growing a sense of resentment to the other.

"No. It has not and your point stands, Tsuchikage-dono. We can't compromise the lives of a million civilians for the sake of one boy." The Kazekage mentioned.

The Mizukage simply closed her visible eye and said with a stern voice obviously irritated, "The Shinobi Corps is not a guild of assassins, Kazekage-dono. We are peacekeepers. It is our duty to serve the people and maintain order. Killing one boy just because he didn't know better is out of the question."

"I've heard that you could be quite ruthless when you need to be, Kazekage…" The Raikage was quick to remove the honorific right then and there before finally adding, "But don't disregard to what this organization stands for. We are not hypocrites. Sarutobi entrusted us with our positions right now. Best not to disappoint him."

Tsunade was then quick to interrupt the conversation, "We're already going with the Mizukage's approach in this. The best we can do is to alert the Namikaze household and see to it that they take down the bounty."

Jiraiya shook his head at this, "I'm afraid it wouldn't be that simple. There has to be something more going on if the household was relying on such a wide scale tactic like this. We'll stall for time until we can sniff out the bigger deal on what is really going on. I'll gather the information and I'll relay it all to you as soon as possible."

Notifying just how alarmed they should be, three of the four chiefs looked satisfied before promptly disconnecting from the meeting.

Before the Kazekage was about to end his part of the transmission, Tsunade had stopped him.

"Kazekage." The woman looked on in contempt as the Kazekage stopped the connection. The said leader looked back at Tsunade who had by now had hands clasped together and her elbows resting on the table, with but a frown and her mouth hidden, she threatened him.

"Go and make more statements like that and I'll squish your head like a grape."

The Kazekage's eyes twitched slightly, acknowledging Tsunade's threat as very real. The woman wasn't considered to be the Konoha chief for nothing before finally disconnecting from her line.

"Shizune."

Tsunade's secretary stood up promptly as Tsunade gave a new order, "Alert Team Kakashi and the rest of the squads of these new events. They are to know that security will be tighter around the Namikaze heir. I'll be contacting Kushina as soon as possible."

Jiraiya was still unmoving from his position and kept staring at the projector. Tsunade already knew what question to ask.

"Were you disturbed with what the Kazekage said?" Tsunade asked. Jiraiya simply replied his eyes not leaving to where the Kazekage's face was displayed, "I didn't like his tone of voice, Tsunade. I'm about to go there myself and lop his head off if he couldn't keep it out of his ass."

Tsunade nodded in understanding at that statement, "You're pretty close to the boy, aren't you, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya scoffed at that, "Close? I'm more than close, Tsunade, I'm the boy's teacher and godfather. I taught him combat and many more. He is my godson after all."

Tsunade suddenly stopped her train of thought as Jiraiya simply grinned, reading her expression quite like an open book.

"What? You and Orochimaru weren't the only ones who had apprentices."

Tsunade simply sighed and shook her head, "Jiraiya, you are such an impossible man."

The white haired man grinned even wider, "I know. That's why you love me."

"Don't push it."

* * *

With Naruto:

It was quite distressing that he had to take off his shirt for his first PE class and change. He wasn't used to changing with a lot of people. Plus there was THAT.

He wasn't sure how people would react upon seeing it. It was too attention grabbing, probably as worse as his name would suggest and would garner more attention than he wanted.

"Oi, Naruto, why are you just standing there? Get changed already, Kagine isn't really that much of a nice guy when it's PE."

Ichigo helpfully reminded him. But Naruto still felt uncomfortable about it. He had read that people take in body paint or tattoos negatively. So he was really unsure on what to do.

"Can I at least change in a bathroom in private? I've got this really nasty scar from an accident when I was a kid and…"

Ever the hyperactive and annoying person, Keigo's ears were twitching quite well as the Namikaze spoke. To his side, Mizuiro and Sasuke were glaring at the brunette who was unmistakably eavesdropping.

"Could it be that Namikaze-san is really a girl with a flat-chest or bindings which is why he's requesting to change in a bathroom?"

"Yes, while you're at it, go check on the girl's locker room and see if Sakura is really a boy, Keigo." Sasuke remarked at that rather callously while Mizuiro cautioned the Uchiha.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Uchiha-san. Whatever suggestion given to Keigo, he usually…"

"Alright! I'll check to make sure, Uchiha-san! I'm off!"

With that Keigo took off while Sasuke chuckled darkly seeing the boy march to his own doom before turning back to Mizuiro, "You were saying?"

The boy just sighed in defeat before he finally said, "Nevermind."

"WOAH! Check it out, man! Namikaze-san has a wicked tattoo on his back!" One of the guys shouted and all of them turned around to Naruto who was putting on his shirt who looked surprised at that. Everyone who was looking in front of him rushed to his back to check out the tattoo.

There was indeed a large tattoo on his back. It was merely a shadow, but from the skin that wasn't altered and served as outlines, they could tell it was a fox, dropped on all fours with its jagged mouth in a snarl with nine tails swaying outwards from whichever direction, sometimes overlapping with the other tails. The single thing that caught their sights however, was the red colored jewel that was at his spine, just behind his stomach that looked like it was designed as the eye of the fox.

Naruto was pleasantly surprised by this turn of events, never had he thought that these people would look at the markings on his back in a positive light. They even looked at it in awe.

"That's seriously wicked, Namikaze-san, I never thought you were into tattoos." One of his classmates mentioned and Naruto grinned sheepishly at it.

"Well, it was more like a few relatives of mine did it to me when I was a kid. It's tradition in the family, they said."

They looked once more in awe while before Naruto finally placed his shirt, now feeling good that the impact of his mark left something positive instead of the alternative. He smiled this time, as he set out from the room and immediately took a step back as he saw someone flying in the corridor and hitting the wall on the other side.

"AND STAY OUT! IF WE CATCH YOU GOING HERE AGAIN, I'LL HANG YOUR FAMILY JEWELS BY THE FLAGPOLE!"

Naruto looked at the opposite direction and saw Sakura and their other classmate with the spiky head slamming the door to the girls' changing room.

Ichigo merely walked over to Keigo and squatted down to his level and said to Keigo, "I know I don't exactly have the details here, but I sure as hell know that what you did probably deserved the beating that you took."

The only reply he could get was a groan of pain coming from the brunette as he was carried by his classmates towards the infirmary.

After they all finished getting changed, they went out of the building and saw Kagine waiting impatiently by the hot sun as he tapped his foot in annoyance. The principal earlier had just let Ichigo and that stupidly grinning Luffy off the hook once more. It really cheesed him off that the orange head's punishment was just a slap on the wrist and not standing in the hall with mop or cleaning his office. Well at least Luffy was there to serve his punishment, he was late one too many times already and the principal saw it fit to place him under Kagine's insistence. The PE teacher inwardly grinned; oh he had a punishment planned for Kurosaki as well. Just not something that everyone should expect.

To his side, he saw the grinning kid with stitches on his cheek waiting patiently as he was sitting down.

"Why are you smiling?"

Luffy simply replied, "Well, because you look like that cartoon character with the snickering dog who always goes..." To this, Luffy did his best imitation of Dick Dastardly, "_MUGSEY DO SOMETHING!"_

Kagine simply glared at the boy. _'Little hellion.'_

Once the herd of boys were finally within earshot, Kagine blew his whistle and all of them stood in attention and grabbed a soccer ball.

"Alright you bunch of degenerates, today's sport involves running until your little lady legs burst a blood vessel, and eating dirt until you suffer a worm infestation. Today's sport is…" He paused for dramatic effect before kicking the ball to Ichigo who caught it with his hands.

"…Football."

Naruto turned to Sai and asked him, "Is the PE teacher always like this?"

Sai simply gave him one of his most creepy smiles before answering the blonde, "Yes, Nose hair-sensei does, he always has this demeaning attitude towards the student body. I believe he is compensating for something."

Naruto stood there confused at what Sai was getting at. Just what is it that Kagine-sensei is compensating for? Was it the muscles? He looked pretty muscular. It must be the fact that he had a mug worse than that of a drug user.

Sasuke, who had overheard the conversation, rolled his eyes and Kagine was quick to notice their ministrations from the back.

"You three, since you like gossiping like little women, you're going to be teaming with this clown…" Kagine pointed to Luffy with his thumb while the said boy was grinning like a maniac and waving at the three before continuing, "… And Kurosaki in a match for a whole forty-five minutes!"

Sasuke glared at Kagine with a hateful expression and grumbled about lonely middle-aged men. He wasn't even doing anything, that asshat! It was a good thing that he was a member of the corps or else he would have pounced on the man and tore out his intestines before shoving it down his throat.

Kagine grinned at that when he saw Ichigo stumble a little when his name was called out.

"Me? Why me? I didn't even talk about you compensating for something!" Ichigo called out. Obviously, he had heard Naruto and Sai talk about their teacher.

Kagine fumed a moment and ground his teeth as he looked at the little punk with the bleached orange hair. But regained his composure with a small cough.

"You know, I was thinking of forming a rather normal team of eleven with you. But since you asked for it, you five are going to be fighting the rest of the class in a soccer match!" Kagine shouted in fury as Ichigo looked at the man in disdain. What the hell is this guy's problem?

Naruto didn't seem to mind though. In fact, he looked quite fired up about the prospect of five of them facing an entire team in a football match and began stretching his legs and doing squats with each one.

Sasuke and Sai were merely quiet about the whole thing but he could tell that the Uchiha was pissed beyond reasonable doubt. Sasuke was best known for his very taciturn behaviour around school and his damn ugly personality when it comes to socializing. Yet what surprised him was that Sasuke had a very formidable following in some of the females within the school. Well, the Uchiha was a pretty boy but his attitude was worse than a camel's waste. He had zero overall likability because of his very asshole like qualities in talking with people and basically being a dick to everyone. He remembered how Sasuke blew off Keigo and told him to go masturbate in front of his sister.

That didn't sit well with Keigo who looked like he was seriously about to puke. But like always, this man would forget that Sasuke insulted his sister thinking that Sasuke was just always in a bad mood.

Sai on the other hand, was well, Sai. He looked pretty normal enough, but he was just creepy as always with those smiles and the perpetual dick jokes. Keigo called him gay once, and Sai retorted that Keigo was just a loser who will never get laid. The friend in question was frozen in shock in how much Sai was so blunt about the topic. If Keigo were made of glass, he would have already shattered from that sentence alone.

Then there was the idiot that was Luffy, still grinning at them stupidly. Ichigo palmed his face at this.

They were doomed.

"Since I'm feeling a lot more generous lately, Kurosaki, I'll let you decide to get one more player from the opposing team." Kagine pointed to the other side with a grin. Ichigo simply let out a sigh in defeat.

Well, an extra person in the team would be better than just five of them.

"Ooh, I know, pick the big guy!" Luffy shouted and pointed to one of Ichigo's closest friends, Chad.

The man was big, muscular and tan. His eyes were covered by his shaggy hair but there was enough room for him to see. His height was pretty imposing, but his attitude was the complete opposite of his intimidating stature.

Ichigo had to nod. Chad was a good choice coming from Luffy. But that was saying a lot since Chad's height did bring a lot of attention.

"Yasutora, go over to their side." Kagine commanded and the giant of a boy merely gave a nod of reply.

"Sorry you had to be in this, Chad. But before I could even pick anyone, that idiot over there…" Ichigo pointed to Luffy who was now imitating Naruto's stretches, "… Picked you first. No hard feelings?"

Chad shook his head, "It's not a problem, Ichigo. I must admit though, Kagine-sensei's punishment seems unusual."

Ichigo shrugged, "He can't do much else, really. As long the principal says so, he can't do a normal punishment against me. So this seems to be the best course of action for him while still keeping his job."

Chad seemed to nod at this.

"So what are our positions?" Sai asked with a smile causing all of the team members to have shivers run down their spines.

Ichigo simply scratched the back of his head, "Honestly, I have no idea."

Luffy raised his hand, "I want to be the guy who kicks the ball into the goal!"

"Okay, you're the goal keeper." Ichigo instantly decided and shot down whatever Luffy had in his mind.

Luffy had to tilt his head in question at this, "What's a goal keeper?"

Ichigo took a deep breath at that question while holding the bridge of his nose as he told Luffy the explanation, "It's the person whose job is to guard the net and prevent any balls from entering in it."

"What? I want to be the guy who kicks the ball in, not the one guarding it!" Luffy protested.

Ichigo was quick to bribe him, "You get to wear a nice pair of gloves."

"You got a deal!"

That was easy enough.

He then turned to the rest of the team and Chad raised his hand and volunteered, "Can I be sweeper and backer?"

Ichigo simply nodded, Chad was big but he was also quick. His advantage was his build, and combined with his physique, Chad's imposing stature could hold the defense line very well.

"Okay, I guess that would work, what about you, Uchiha-san?" Ichigo asked Sasuke who was still scowling at Kagine before saying, "Anywhere that can make Kagine look like a total fool."

"Right, you're central midfielder then."

Sasuke merely gave a grunt as he kept staring at Kagine with a hateful expression. If his eyes could bore holes into anything, Kagine would have most likely been Swiss cheese the moment Sasuke deemed it so.

"That leaves Naruto and Sai. So what will be your positions?"

Naruto was thinking pretty deeply at that moment as if it was one of the biggest decisions he had to make in his life. Sai merely smiled and spoke, "I'll be secondary striker."

"That leaves Naruto as attacking midfielder and me as center striker. You okay with that, Naruto?"

Naruto simply shrugged, "I don't know where you need to place me but I guess that will do."

When the time came to finally start the game, Kagine was grinning ear to ear. Oh he would see the carnage of this alright. Six players wouldn't even be enough to cover the whole damn field! That will teach that bleach wearing boy not to mess with the rules!

It should be reminded to Kagine that he had just grouped together a handful of super powered teenaged boys and that most of them, except probably for Chad, can probably take on any group of men who are nothing but normal people, except probably for Chad.

Kagine simply grinned when Ichigo's teammates began positioning themselves in their assigned areas. With a small and amused chuckle, he mumbled to himself before blowing his whistle, "Let the bloodbath begin."

* * *

An hour later:

Kagine had his jaw floored the moment he saw Ichigo's team move and played. Throughout the whole game, none of their classmates managed to get past their thinly covered defense. Sasuke intercepted ball passes by the center and whatever line was formed at the other side with Chad marking and pressuring players that went to him. If a team does get the best of them, Luffy was there to catch the ball with his surprising reflexes with his hands. For a moment there, Kagine thought the boy's hands were literally stretching beyond that of normal means!

No ball could get past the defense!

He thought the nightmare stopped there, but the offense could have been just as scary.

Naruto had excellent speed and his control of the ball was pretty damn good for a first time player. He could juggle the ball with his body that confused players so much that setting up plays was never a problem for them, it was difficult to wrestle the ball from Naruto's feet as he would often resort to juggling it and completely being missed when tackles were performed. When it came to passing, the heir apparent was quick and very precise and often passed the ball to where they were most vulnerable, where Ichigo or Sai was conveniently placed.

Then the double team, dear merciful God in heaven, did Ichigo and Sai tear the competition like wet tissue paper! Ichigo struck hard and scored goals too fast for the goalie to react and Sai appeared in places where the goalie was wide open for stealth attacks.

Kagine saw a bloodbath alright. He saw his proper team get a beating like no other. He stood there and watched, his jaw still on the ground, as the team lacking in manpower, bulldozed its way throughout the entire match. When they played on defence, it was like scaling a brick wall. When they were on the offense, it was like trying to stop a hot iron spear with a piece of paper.

"Here's one more for the finisher!" Ichigo shouted as he kicked the ball so hard that it literally speed up and caused afterimages in its wake. The goal keeper froze when it saw the ball go past him and smashed its way on to the net, pushing some part of it back as it continued to spin and causing smoke to rise out of the friction that it caused.

Another goal attempted by the orange head, another blow to Kagine's plan that was already burning down by the seams.

The PE teacher dropped his clipboard without even knowing it.

Kurosaki's group had just demolished the competition with a 5-0 score.

"Don't look so surprised, _sensei._ I was just doing my best, after all." Sasuke patted Kagine's back with a smirk that clearly showed his superiority. Chad watched as Sasuke continued to pat Kagine's back and chuckling while seeing Kagine stand in shock like that.

"Wow, I've never seen someone froze like that. Kagine-sensei should be careful, though. A bee could enter his mouth any minute." Naruto mentioned while Ichigo shook his head.

"Just leave him be. Although for the life of me, I can't seem to figure out how we won the match."

Sai helpfully answered him as blunt as he could possibly be, "It's because they were weak."

Some of the boys were glaring at Sai for this while some were simply far too shocked on their own to come up with a reply.

Chad bent down to Ichigo's level and whispered "Ichigo, you sure made a lot of interesting friends."

Ichigo denied that as plain as possible, "They're not my friends."

"Hey, Ichigo, since you're one of my new friends and all, why don't you come with us? I have to pay you back ever since you saved my life, after all! Luffy and Yasutora-san can come as well!" Naruto shouted and Chad simply smiled at his friend, "You were saying?"

Ichigo just gave him a glare.

Much Later:

His mother said that friends often hang out after class especially if it's nearing the weekends and during the weekends itself. He assumed that 'hanging out' meant spending time just having fun with the rest. He was curious. His mind was peering over to this new experience of hanging out with friends. Of course, he asked his mother if he could do so to which she wholeheartedly agreed and he immediately set it up. The problem was, since the whole thing was so abrupt, he hadn't had a venue to spend the time with.

Now he was in a conundrum. He had absolutely NO idea just what were the places in this city that people like Ichigo usually hang out in. So the idea of going out after school hours was pretty much lost on him. He had meant to ask Sasuke or Sakura to where they usually go to in their leisure hours, but he figured he'd asked the most down to earth fellow he knew. So when Naruto asked Ichigo where he usually hung out after school, he looked quite embarrassed about it.

"What do you mean you don't know where to go?" Ichigo asked, now quirking an eyebrow at this.

"I mean, I don't know the first thing on what to do in having fun in the city. When I was in Kyoto, I'm always inside the mansion and I couldn't get out and have some fun. My time was always spent inside and if I didn't want to be bored, I ride the horses out in our backyard." Naruto said almost ashamed and looked down. Ichigo simply said in a deadpan voice, "Just how big is your backyard? And for that matter, why not just by the restaurant where we first met? Seems like a lot of trouble to be finding anything else, if you ask me. I don't usually spend my time outside after school that much anyway."

Naruto's eyes instantly lit up and vigorously shook Ichigo's hand.

"That's great! Wait a moment, I'm going to tell Sakura and the others, invite your friends as well, Ichigo!" Naruto waved off while Ichigo watched the enthusiastic blonde before shaking his head. Naruto may be oblivious but he obviously meant well.

Shaking his head, Ichigo couldn't help but feel compelled to go. He didn't know why he couldn't refuse, but somehow, it wouldn't feel right. It was funny how that worked.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Rukia's voice, "It's funny that you couldn't even refuse his offer that time. Didn't you find his antics annoying?"

Ichigo turned to Rukia and shook his head, "Not as annoying as dealing with Keigo. At least Naruto has a valid reason to be as naïve as he is now. But Keigo? He's just an idiot."

Rukia didn't seem to have any comment for that, she hardly knew Ichigo's friends after all, but still. Ichigo's words were a bit harsh.

"That's a little harsh, I mean, sure he was stupid enough to enter our changing room but then again, the beatings?"

"… Are deserving of what that idiot goes through everyday. The only person I know that can top his level is probably that Mugiwara guy." Ichigo quickly recalled Luffy's stupid grin.

Rukia seemingly raised her eyebrow at this. Weren't Ichigo and Keigo friends? How could Ichigo be so blunt and so passive against Keigo's behaviour just like that?

Ichigo remarked, "Don't look at me like that. If you've known Keigo for the past year or so, you'd be annoyed too."

Rukia simply shrugged while tinkering with her phone. Ichigo eyed the girl for a moment and asked, "You've been tinkering around that phone for a while now. Just who are you talking to anyway?"

Rukia simply focused on the phone and not much else, "It's just a simple application that I got from Soul Society. I've been tinkering with it since this morning to get an idea just how this works. Hopefully we wouldn't encounter any hollows by then."

When they finally made it outside with their friends in tow, Ichigo and the rest were looking quite wide eyed at the car in front of them.

Although he probably shouldn't be surprised by now, Ichigo still had his eyes as wide as dinner plates as did the rest of his friends who were looking at the rather expensive looking limousine.

"Ooh! Where'd you get the ride, blondie?" Luffy asked as he was looking at the paint while his friend, that had the same amount of orange hair who came from a different school, drooled in a very unladylike fashion.

"What's the matter, Nami? You look like me when I'm about to eat something really good!" Luffy commented, to which Nami simply clocked Luffy over the head with her fist. The girl then grabbed Luffy's collar and began shaking him back and forth.

"You moron, why didn't you tell me earlier that one of your friends was loaded?" Nami mentioned while Luffy simply shrugged. Nami was really surprised when Luffy had invited her over to hang out with one of his friends. He even came all the way to her school before dragging her all the way here. In a rare occurrence other than hanging out in the dingy old warehouse Luffy would like to call Going Merry for reasons unknown to her, Nami was compelled by Luffy's urgings to make her come along. Luffy had intended to look for Zoro, but the perpetually lost swordsman was nowhere to be found.

While the rest of the group was looking at the scene, Hayate, one of Naruto's aides, interrupted them with a simple and courteous bow.

"I am Gekko Hayate, one of Naruto-sama's attendants. I am glad to be of service to the young master's friends."

Many of them simply stood there amazed or flabbergasted.

"Naruto-san sure is impossibly rich, isn't he, Tatsuki-chan?" Orihime mentioned to the Karate club's star member. To which the girl in question simply nodded.

"I never even knew Ichigo was close to someone from Kyoto." Tatsuki commented and eyed Ichigo rather suspiciously. Ichigo merely looked at his long time friend in question.

"How do you know about Naruto living in Kyoto?" Ichigo asked. Tatsuki simply sighed and shook her head.

"It's common knowledge, Ichigo. The noble houses are a pretty famous topic these days. They're responsible in establishing the corps and are pretty well known because of the news last night." Tatsuki mentioned it like everyone should have known. Ichigo flinched.

"What news?" Ichigo asked, obviously interested.

"Naruto actually ran away from home and a big reward was placed to those who would turn him over to the household or any of the corps members. The class has been practically talking about it since this morning. Some are even planning to go to the corps headquarters after class to inform them about his location." Tatsuki mentioned and glanced over at Naruto who was talking to Chad and Keigo about the Football match earlier.

"So are you planning to report him, then, Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked. His voice was one of curiosity to Tatsuki's plan of action towards this revelation.

Tatsuki merely scratched her head at this in annoyance, "Look at him, Ichigo. Do you honestly think I could ever do that to him? He probably ran away from his home because he's one of those rich caged bird stereotypes. He practically screams of curiosity of life outside his home. The naïve tendencies are just icing to the cake. If anything, I feel sorry for the guy."

Ichigo simply frowned at this, "That's rich coming from you, Tatsuki. I never even knew you had a conscience."

Tatsuki simply frowned and took up Ichigo's challenge, "Right. And I'm supposed to believe that you give a fuck about his situation, then?"

"Actually, I don't. But if it makes you feel better, then we're on the same boat." Ichigo answered with a deadpan voice.

It was then that the group all went inside the overly long limousine for the ride to where Ichigo, Naruto and Luffy first met.

Once they made it to the restaurant, Naruto requested one big table for all of them to sit in. Naruto sat very close to his currently four undercover bodyguards/friends that were all looking quite tense and in contrast to what the rest were feeling right now, had their guards up. They've been informed from Konoha earlier about the current situation and that the security was about to get even tighter. They also had been warned to watch out for the blonde and make sure that he never has any feelings that would drive him to a dangerous degree.

Hinata, who was looking quite pensive, decided to glance at the blonde who was now speaking casually with Orihime about what she currently does and what are the things that they usually do when looking for fun in the city. Just by this much of a crowd, Hinata could tell just how dangerous it could get and how difficult it would be. She had been informed that Bounty Hunters were now sprouting up like mushrooms to get to the heir as well as opportunists that would like nothing more than to see the fall of the Nine Noble houses.

She worriedly glanced over Sasuke, Sakura and Sai and asked where their squad captain was. Sasuke pointed out that Kakashi was busy being debriefed and looking for any additional help that may prove useful in the future.

"Eh, you keep horses out in your backyard, Naruto-san?" Orihime asked, looking quite incredulous at that. Naruto nodded at that with a grin.

"Yep, and I have this really nice horse named Rupert. He's really cool and gallops like no other horse in Kyoto!" Naruto said rather proudly. Ichigo simply rolled his eyes, what kind of a lame ass name was Rupert?

"Wow, that's a really cool hobby you have, Naruto-san! As expected of someone who's rich! You're quite an equestrian!" Nami said rather forcefully, Naruto simply laughed sheepishly at that and scratched the back of his head.

"What's an equestrian?" Luffy asked while Nami palmed her face at that. What she wouldn't give to make Luffy go away for now and have someone like Sanji interrupt and grab his attention.

"Hello, welcome to Itadaki's, may I take youuu- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, LUFFY?" asked Sanji with eyes wide and pointing at the boy who was simply grinning at him.

"I'm here because Naruto asked me to go with his friends!" Luffy declared with a grin before scratching his head at seeing Sanji. He then pointed to the spiky blonde haired boy who was waving casually back to him.

"What are YOU doing here, Sanji?" Luffy asked.

"What am I doing here? I work here, damn it! Did you forget that?" Sanji asked about to hit his fearless leader over the head when he stopped for a minute when he saw the row of high school girls all looking at the two having a conversation.

"You know him, Luffy?" Ichigo asked with a raised eyebrow.

Luffy simply grinned, "Yeah he's part of my mmph~!" Luffy was quickly silenced when Nami and Sanji placed a hand on his mouth to keep him from talking about their lives outside of school, work or anything else.

Nami whispered to him dangerously, "Listen here, Luffy. That kid over there with the blonde hair is our ticket to luxury! Your tongue slips as much as a word about our gang, and I'll make sure to dip your feet on a tub of cement and toss you over Tokyo Bay!"

Luffy instantly began sweating bullets at Nami's threat.

As if another addition to his burden, Sanji added his own threat as if it was with venom seeping through his mouth.

"Those girls are pretty damn fine looking. I don't want our fearless leader tattling about our little escapades as gang members! You tell them as much as us being the ones responsible in Arlong Park and I'll make sure that I won't cook for you for the next two weeks!"

Everyone was staring at them while Luffy was waving his arms and telling them that he sort of got the point.

Nami laughed nervously at that, "W-What he meant to say was that we're all his friends coming from different schools! We all grew up together and we always have this really weird calling for a gang!"

The more perceptive members of the group were looking rather doubtful of their explanation with raised eyebrows. That is, until Ichigo added, "Not to be a pest or anything, but some gang members called out someone named Mugiwara and challenged him to a street fight. Luffy over there said that Mugiwara was the name of his gang and that he had told the truth about him beating up this Arlong guy."

Nami and Sanji froze like stiff rocks while Naruto tilted his head to the side in wonder, "Oh, so you were those guys that the nice people were looking for earlier."

To this, Naruto smiled, "Thanks to you guys, I got to experience my first party!"

Everyone sweat dropped at that.

"You mean that rumble two days earlier was a party?" Orihime asked mimicking her stance as Naruto by tilting her head to the side.

Ichigo, Sakura, Nami and the rest of the more thoughtful members palmed their faces out of that.

"I don't know if I should laugh or cry about this." Ichigo mentioned as he excused himself from the table to go to the bathroom.

Once he made it inside, the orange head simply sighed and did his business.

Ichigo however, couldn't even find it in himself to do his business when he felt like somebody was watching.

He turned to his side and saw a man, squinted eyes held into an inverted u. Thin and lanky, the man smiled at him in a wide grin, creeping Ichigo out as his oddly colored light purple hair swayed with the brief wind as he walked out. He was wearing a rather plain looking black suit with a white long sleeve undergarment and a complimentary black tie.

"Would you mind that you keep your peripheral vision to yourself? Your stare is making me uncomfortable."

The man merely smiled once more and spoke, "Sorry fer' gettin' all' creepy like that, ya see. It's probably because I've been gettin' this really bad feelin' since I've come here. Ya see this place has the devil's luck and not in a good way. It'd be really bad if somethin' bad were ta happen to yer pals."

With that, the man simply headed out of the room before patting Ichigo on the shoulder.

Ichigo immediately turned towards the man and almost shouted, "What are you getting at?"

The man stopped just before the doorway and turned back to Ichigo, his smile still plastered on his face, "Can't really say, might be hunch and it might be not. But best be on guard, Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ichigo stopped, how did this man know his name? And for that matter why would this man talk to him? As the questions begin to pile up, Ichigo had stumbled by the door and instead of the purple haired man that he expected to see, it turned out to be Rukia who was there to meet him, her attention once more on her phone.

"There's a hollow ready to appear near the restaurant Ichigo, Soul Society has given you and I the authority to take care of it."

Ichigo raised his voice in protest, "Wait, what? Since when do I have to answer to Soul Society?"

Ichigo was pissed. Rukia had just informed her that he now has to answer to some shady figure he doesn't even know. It wasn't as if he wouldn't be glad to do this if they asked, the problem was that they simply didn't and it was pissing him off!

Rukia merely gave her a reply, "The moment you took up the sword, is the moment you gain the burden of being a Soul Reaper. You…"

Rukia pointed to Ichigo, "… Are now a guardian, the protector of the weak; a chosen. You are now tasked with carrying the blade to your own discretion and you will fight these things down to the last breath."

"This is something you can't refuse Ichigo, stake your life or you stake the life of others. All of us who have no other choice but to carry this burden fully understand the implications of what will happen. People will die. They will suffer a fate far worse than death."

Ichigo simply scowled at that. He remembered the first time he had held the blade and the first time he had finally confronted one of these monsters who were so close to kill him and his family. Now, completely understanding of the burden that he had to shoulder now, Ichigo balled his hands into fists, finally forgetting about that man earlier and with a new resolve, his expression changed to that of a steely gaze.

"Where's my sword?"

* * *

At the same time:

When Ichigo had excused himself, Naruto immediately grew concerned when Nami, Luffy's friend with the same amount of hue for her hair as did Ichigo, began clutching her head in pain and began mumbling about directions. Her eyes were closed, her hands clutching her ears as if she didn't want to hear anything and her face was contorted to one of discomfort.

"Something is coming. A giant, up on the park, it's roaring, screaming in agony. But it's too primal, too fierce and too big. It's looking to sate its hunger…"

Just then, a horrified scream and her hazel brown eyes were opened once more, eyes, wide in shock and her hands moved from her ears to her mouth.

"The children…"

Naruto instantly wasted no time and made a dash outside, his speed overwhelmingly greater than it was earlier before. A look of worry written all over his face, as his bodyguards and attendants all scrambled and chased after him.

"Naruto-sama!" Sakura practically yelled as they gave chase. Naruto wasn't sure why, but he felt compelled to trust Nami's words that very instant. He thought it was rather foolhardy for his part but he didn't seem to care about it. There was something about her words that held truth in them. Lo and behold, he had once read about people like Nami in a book.

What Nami displayed was the gift of both clairvoyance and future sight. And although many would like to dispute these gifts, Naruto would consider many possibilities first before anything else.

Back in the Restaurant, Luffy and Sanji were helping Nami up on her chair as she winced at the immediate information that her ability had given her. She had never expected her power to trigger like that without her activation. She had explained to her friends once that her ability was normally triggered when she willed it so or that there was some form of danger that involved her. The second requirement was more often enough, annoying than an actually useful ability. It had almost made her stumble more than once in her life and would have liked nothing more to control it better.

Luffy had looked over to Sanji and his tone of voice was serious for once.

"Sanji, let's go to the park. If that thing triggered Nami's powers, then it's our job to put a stop to it before we're in anymore danger." Luffy replied as he walked out of the restaurant.

"Nami, keep everyone safe." Luffy had ordered this time, before going out. Sanji soon following him.

It was then that a mop of aqua green hair greeted the when they got outside.

"Hey, guys, what are you doing here? And where the hell is the hideout?" Zoro had asked and sure enough, Luffy had involved him as well.

"Zoro! We're going to the park! Meet us there when you have your stuff!"

By stuff, Luffy meant his swords. Zoro sighed as he quickly cracked his neck.

"Sorry, Luffy! I didn't bring my swords today!" Zoro shouted before looking at the store by the opposite side of the road. It was a good thing that he worked part time for a dojo with good pay. If not, then he was severely screwed to whatever crazy idea Luffy had in his head right now.

Two more people had made a mad dash towards the park as Zoro watched, a boy with the likeliness of his hair resembling Nami's except much more wild and a shorter girl with a petite look. It must be some new subordinates and lackeys that Luffy had managed to drag into.

"Oh well, I'll see what I can do to improvise."

Inside the restaurant, all of the people left behind were simply dumbstruck as to what had just occurred while Nami was fidgeting from the gaze of Luffy's newfound friends.

"So… Who wants tea?"

With Naruto:

Naruto had made it at the park in record time; he decided to forego running this time in favor of hopping through the canopy of the treetops, bounding from one branch to another in hopes of getting there. His concern grew and grew as he pushed his feet to the limits. He just hoped that he would be there just before the event triggered. He had already decided on what place children would most likely be at.

He stopped when he made it to the playground. It was still in pristine shape. He sighed in relief as he saw the children were still running around but that sigh of relief quickly turned to worry as he immediately felt something weigh him down. It was slight but it was enough to put him on edge. He looked around and could feel something was wrong in the picture. The ground that the playground was on was immediately covered in shadow. Naruto could see it contort and compress, gathering to a small place and coalescing to a single point and into a ball as big as a watermelon. It then began to sprout from the ground, as if a dark colored sunrise had come and slowly ascended to the sky. The children were dumbstruck as the pitch black orb grew and grew. It grew and grew as it ascended to the sky. The shadow cast on the ground at the playground then, somehow, materialized and headed towards the black orb in a near spiral pattern. Naruto's eyes instantly widened.

Sasuke, Sakura, Sai and Hinata stopped when they made it over to the place where the heir was. They looked at the heir and then looked at to where the heir was looking. They saw that small dark orb in the sky suddenly expand from the shadow accumulated below as it now began forming a gratuitous pale white face with a pointy nose and yellow eyes. The mask reminded Naruto of that monster he encountered along with Ichigo and Luffy. It looked like the mask was an exoskeleton of sorts.

"What the heck is that ridiculously large unknown doing here?" Sasuke stared at the giant monster before all the while Hinata remarked, "It's as Nami-san mentioned."

The shadows that littered the face soon stretched down from there and began forming a body, a formless body made of shadow as its hands became as white as its mask and its feet resembling a pair of shoes with the tips curled upward.

Just then, the children who were at the park suddenly found themselves too scared to move. They were all staring at this towering behemoth with but a quivering gaze. Fear was already taking over.

With but a step, the giant monster sought after the souls that was standing before it as it moved its feet to crush the children.

Naruto had already seen enough.

The blonde once more vanished from the sight of his body guards as the giant monster lifted its enormous left foot and about to stomped the three children when a streak of yellow made itself known and scooped the three children up and barely dodging the giant foot stomping on to them. Surprised by the sudden movement, his bodyguards watched as Naruto saved all three children with his near godlike speed and their eyes never leaving the blonde who stumbled and fell to the ground on his back with all three children in his arms, they were amazed with Naruto's near instantaneous act.

With a groan, Naruto asked the children, "You three alright?"

They all nodded absentmindedly as he rushed them out of the monster's sight. Naruto merely gave a reassuring smile and scooted them away.

"You three run along and hide now."

The children obeyed almost immediately and ran. Naruto watched as they went out of sight and turned back into the gigantic monster with a scowl.

"I'm not sure just what you are, but just to be clear, I'm taking you down." Naruto then flicked his right hand and a small butterfly knife was made present in his palm, he twirled and revealed its majestic blade.

"What the hell is that idiot doing?" Sasuke muttered, his eyes once more turning crimson, indicative of his Sharingan.

He could see the boy gathering incandescent blue energy to his knife, he could tell that Naruto had some form of training, but he just couldn't tell just how proficient the heir was. But when he saw Naruto actually perform a basic use of elemental manipulation, Sasuke was surprised. That type of ability was usually reserved for people inducted in the corps program. But Naruto, for all of his oblivious tendencies and well meaning nature, had enough qualifications for an actual member of the corps.

Hinata simply watched, amazed at the boy before her. Naruto's weapon was glowing blue, the energy extending a meter from the blade itself and the formless energy straightening and taking shape. It looked like Naruto was now holding a sword.

"Well this is a surprising turn of events." A voice had mentioned and they all looked to their left, Team Seven's commander, Hatake Kakashi was leaning against a tree trunk and silently watched the son of his former superior do battle with the unknown monster.

"Kakashi-taichou, just when did you…" Sakura was about to ask just when Kakashi appeared while the man who hid his face behind his book answered in a nonchalant manner, "I've been near you throughout the whole day. You've all been debriefed about Namikaze-sama's situation, right? Well, the big wigs from all the branches decided to tighten security around the heir apparent even further. There is news about a certain person vying for the wealth and power of the Namikaze Household and to an extent, the nine noble houses."

Naruto immediately acted when the monster gave an unholy roar. They could feel the earth vibrating from their feet as it stomped on the blonde who had simply vanished and evaded the blow coming from the monster until Naruto had appeared once more on its right foot and slicing off part of its leg.

It screeched. The deep roar changed to an ear bleeding screech. When pain coursed through its right leg, Naruto's weapon leaving a clean cut on it for and blood, no, it was definitely something that resembled blood, but it was far from it. Whereas the normal human color of blood was red, this was pitched black, as black as the concentrated shadows that resembled its body.

It flowed, no, gushed forth in a spray as wide as a human sized arc.

It was then that a large bird had come from above, larger than anything Naruto had ever seen or read. The bird was white, pale white to be exact. It flapped its near majestic wings around and descended on the back of the monster at a brisk pace as the one riding on top of the bird, Sai, unleashed a ream of talismans from his hands, it swayed gently in the wind before Sai clasped his hands together to form a seal.

The talismans then glowed. Shining white light for each and every paper spread in the air ignited causing a multitude of minor explosions as the monster rocked forth and losing its balance but not enough to topple it over.

A streak of blue light then appeared from the treetops, exploding from where it came and causing a trail of dust leaving its wake. Naruto jumped as he saw Uchiha Sasuke dashing forward and plastering his feet on to the monster's body and began his scaling of the said monster. Naruto could hear the sound of a thousand birds chirping madly about. It was very loud and very painful to the ears to listen to. As Sasuke charged through like a bullet with his right hand crackling with lightning and gaining momentum, the trail it left behind tore open to the monster's 'skin' and gushing more and more of the black fluid.

It motioned its pale white hands and tried to rid of itself of the offending insect that was scaling upward on its body but its hands were suddenly thrown back by a force of pressurized air stopping its chance to swat away the Uchiha that was on a fast track collision on its very top.

Down below, Hinata's arms were out stretched and palms were wide open, her cheeks had multiple veins bulging as her eyes had enlarged every capillary it had focused on to the monster in front of her.

Sasuke's eyes were simply wide. Each of his irises changed from black to scarlet and its tomoe spinning madly in opposite directions of each other. His teeth were clenched as he pushed himself higher and higher towards the creature's face as a near sonic boom escaped his wake.

The monster turned its head downwards and opened its gigantic maw, and gathered forth the same shadows that it had earlier, concentrating to a small orb and Sasuke grinned.

This was the perfect moment. Sasuke leaped, as opposed to the laws of physics, he had jumped straight upwards with his right hand outstretched at the front and thrusts it directly on to its long pointy nose and tearing through it like it was wet tissue paper before stopping just by its base. The monster howled in pain and roared upwards as Sasuke jumped, landing safely on the white bird that Sai was currently riding.

It didn't stop there, as Sakura who had now appeared just at the right moment at the top, had her right arm reeled back and aimed for a finishing blow to its head.

"Oukashou (Cherry Blossom Clash)!"

Sakura then crashed on its forehead, cracking a significant amount of the monster's mask and sending a shockwave below. The ground beneath it shattered from the full brunt of the impact. Naruto who had by now jumped to one of the trees, watched in mild fascination as his personal bodyguards made short work of the monster as it growled and roared before falling on the ground.

With Ichigo and Rukia:

"Tell me, if we're the only ones that can put a stop to this thing, how is it that someone like Luffy and Naruto manage to land lethal blows to it and that group of corps members manage to kill it?" Ichigo asked as they rounded to a corner, Rukia was now pressing numbers on the keypad of her phone and replied, "The people at the corps have this energy that mixes physical energy and mental energy called chakra. It's the holy grail of those martial arts fanatics that read manga. Naruto, who is a member of the group that spawned the corps, has most likely mastered this technique both through constant training of the body and meditation since childhood. Luffy on the other hand, although imbued with spiritual energy, has no manifestations of spiritual energy himself. His power comes from an altered DNA feature from the imbued spiritual energy. That's just it. Although they can be brought down by a peg or two, people like Luffy and Naruto don't have the same source of power as we do."

Rukia then saw Ichigo nod, as she continued, "Those things are hollows, by their base form, they are essentially souls. Manifestations of spirits who no longer have bodies and cannot ascend to the next plain. Our swords were imbued with the power of our souls, our ethereal manifestations when our body withers and decays. When I forcefully introduced you the proper amount of spiritual energy, your latent powers reacted and was forced into motion thus giving your soul the power to imbue itself on to the blade that you have right now."

Ichigo looked at the sword he had on his hand as they continued to run, now fully aware that he wasn't as winded as he thought he would be. He was surprised though, that Rukia had given him his sword from out of nowhere as she said she stored them in a spell only unique to Soul Reapers.

"How does that connect with the hollows then?" Ichigo asked, Rukia answered, "Your sword is imbued with your soul, something only equal enough to the material that makes up a hollow. Anything physical is useless against it. But a pure material made and imbued with a soul is enough to cut down your enemy."

Ichigo now fully understanding why it had to be them to fight this monster. He ran along with Rukia, hoping that those that ran before him would not be consumed by this monster.

Back with Naruto and the others:

Naruto was surprised when that monster still remained fully formed. He was sure that the blow Sakura dealt earlier was enough to finish it! No living creature could have survived that! But here it was, standing before them menacingly, its injuries were now gone, as it repaired itself with the shadows below.

Kakashi now looked dead serious. This wasn't like any encounter that they had faced before. Even though the size was relatively new, this type of regeneration certainly wasn't. The encounters that they had prior to this were nothing short of mere scuffles, nothing they couldn't contain or handle. But now, with this sudden turn of events, he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Sai. I'm giving you permission to go all out." Kakashi then decided. It was time to intervene as well. The commander of Squad Seven then removed his eye patch and placed it in his pocket revealing a vertical slit that was a scar, stretching from his forehead down to his cheek that was covered by his mask. He opened his eyes, revealing a fully manifested Sharingan as it began to spin.

This was no time in doing things half assed.

"I'm going to fight too." Naruto said as he looked dead serious at the monster.

Sakura immediately voiced her protest at this, "We can't let you do that, Namikaze-sama! You're our protectorate if anything were to happen…"

Naruto had interrupted her, "I can't just sit around and let that thing go after what it had almost done. I'm not letting it take another step from here so I'm want to fight, whether you want me to or not."

"But…"

"Sakura." This time, it was Sasuke who interrupted her.

"Let him fight his own battles." Was his only statement, somehow, Sakura just couldn't disagree with that.

The unknown creature then let out a thunderous roar, its sound causing the ground to vibrate. Just now, it felt like it was acknowledging the six warriors about to face him.

"Here it comes." Hinata warned, her eyes activating once more to the all seeing eyes of the Byakugan.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" A voice had suddenly shouted it was then that a limb had suddenly stretched its way towards the monster's stomach. It lurched and growled as the blow sent it stumbling back and a boy with several stitches across his right cheek appeared just to their backs, gone was his perpetual grin and now replaced by an expression that could surely indicate his rage. To his side, was the blonde apprentice cook that was smoking a cigarette, hands in his pockets and looking quite angry as well, "Endangering my lovely Nami-chan is a crime equal to death. I'm not about to let you walk out alive."

Naruto looked surprised at them appearing, "Luffy…"

"Naruto, we're going to kick that thing's ass to hell and back." Luffy said as he cracked his knuckles. A grin spreading to Naruto's face, not one of a carefree nature, but one indicative how much he was about to enjoy this.

"You don't have to tell me." Replied the heir apparent.

It was then, in a moment's notice, that Naruto and the others instantly jumped, bounding from their line as the monster struck with its enormous foot down at them. Sanji looked impressed.

"Those guys look like they're no pushovers as well." He mentioned. His hands still in his pocket when Naruto was the first to call out.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Mass Shadow Replication skill)!"

A mass of a hundred or so clones of the blonde suddenly filled the air above them, all wielding butterfly knives in their hands. They channelled their chakra to their blades and gave a fierce war cry.

They all plummeted down to the monster who simply swatted some of them but not before receiving multiple gashes along its body.

Kakashi looked impressed. The Shadow Clone skill was a technique listed in Sarutobi's notes as a forbidden art. It required massive amounts of energy, halving the capacities of those who wield it. But this one, a technique used for rushing the opponent en masse, would surely result in the death of the caster upon use. Yet Naruto didn't look anything but winded.

Kakashi took note of it. It was most likely a side-effect of the heir apparent having the Kyuubi's jewel with him.

"Renge Shigure (Lotus Shower)"

The monster staggered, the hail of clones armed to the teeth with finely tuned wind powered knives severely injuring it with what seemed to be small cuts to the thing, but not enough to keep it down. It angrily looked at the clones appearing once more from above and gathered the small globes of shadow particles just above its mouth when it opened its maw. The shadow orbs convalesced, gathering into one place as it grew and grew until it was about the size of a person. And then, without warning, the orb exploded and turned into a ray of pure darkness as the creature blasted it in a wide arc upwards, eliminating the clones with its massive death ray.

To its rear, Sasuke had finished his series of seals for his next technique, "Katon: Gouryuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Skill)"

Super heated flames escaped from Sasuke's mouth, taking form of a dragon's head, sharp fangs and all as it collided with the monster's back severely burning parts of it and consumed what was close to the hit areas.

While the monster wailed, Sai then unfurled his scroll once more and drew another animal best suited to help him, this time, it was a dragon.

"Ninpo: Choju Giga, Ryu (Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitation, Dragon)"

His creation then came to life, cutting loose from its ties from the two dimensional paper that Sai had sprung it from, it took form, and roared its way out. It was about as long as a small train as it danced in the sky before colliding with his target. The dragon opened its maw crashed on to the monsters arm, tearing it off and taking it before disappearing in a drizzle of ink.

Hinata and Sakura were next to show at the side of the monster. As the pink haired girl appeared by the side as did Hinata. Sakura stretched her right arm sideways and Hinata perched on it like a bird of prey. With her mighty strength, Sakura literally tossed Hinata at the monster whose hands were now glowing with blue light. Her arms were now covered with chakra, taking the shape of a pair of lion heads, as she instantly covered the distance.

"Juho Soushiken (Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists)!" Hinata's hands then collided with the monster's body, sending a ripple visible all around its body. A giant burst of the black fluid erupted from the other side, sending it all over the field.

Sakura then, with the help of several Naruto clones remaining, was hurled upwards at great speed. Doing a mid-air forward Roll, Sakura once more descended upon the monster like a bomb. Her right leg extended upward for an axe kick. She was glad that she wore bicycle shorts underneath, her preparedness for just an occasion surely paid off.

From underneath the monster, Kakashi walked towards the monster at a leisurely pace as his right hand now began to collect tendrils of electricity. When Sakura was mere meters away of slamming her heel down at the monster, it was then that Kakashi acted.

"Tsutenkyaku (Painful Sky Leg)!"

"Raikiri (Lightning Cutter)!"

The commander of squad seven had in one blink, appeared on top, with a long cleave from the bottom up to the unknown's head while Sakura crashed and lacerated the monster's head from head to toe.

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy shouted and a flurry of lightning fast punches pounded on the monster's mid-section, and in almost impossible manner, was launched in mid-air. When Luffy finally stopped, Sanji had moved in and jumped directly at the general area where Luffy had just pummelled relentlessly.

"Thanks for tenderizing it, fearless leader!" Sanji focused all of his might for his finisher, a direct straight kick towards the mid-section.

"Mouton Shot!" Sanji then slammed his foot on the cut, beaten, burned, electrocuted, lacerated and pretty much every damn thing a human could think of to induce pain and death on the behemoth above them. The monster lurched in mid air until it crashed below. Sanji, who by now escaped the all via Luffy, looked at the poor creature that seemed to be writhing in pain.

"Well, looks like that's that then." Sanji mentioned and threw the cigarette over the corpse of the said creature before turning back. But he stopped when a shadow loomed past him, covering him entirely and looked back.

There it was… Standing menacingly once more, the monster that they had mercilessly harassed to oblivion and back, it gave an unholy roar before them as Kakashi cursed defiantly.

"Damn that regeneration!"

Gathering energy from its mouth once more, the unknown creature opened its maw and soon, rather than remain steady as it did before, the monster's jaw shook violently as its eyes turned from yellow to a menacing scarlet.

Everyone around the monster began to scatter and make a run for it, but the ball grew contracted and relaxed as it finally stabilized.

"Hyakuhachi Pondou Hou (One Hundred Eight Pound Canon)!" A voice had suddenly shouted out, and multiple shots of compressed air, boomed in on the hollow as it stumbled back.

"You're late, Zoro!" Luffy exclaimed as Zoro scratched the back of his head and apologized while holding three wooden swords in his hands.

"Sorry, I had to make a detour before going here."

"He was asking for directions about the park when he met with us. Is he one of your friends too, Luffy?"

On to his side, Ichigo and Rukia were walking towards them. In their hands were sheathed blades as Rukia finally finished messing with cell phone. She smiled when she read the message:

_Area placed on lockdown. The use of Zanpakuto is authorized._

"Uh yeah, I got a little sidetracked." Zoro mentioned while Sanji scoffed it off.

"You mean you got lost."

Zoro scowled at the blonde cook who merely gave a victorious grin.

Ichigo simply grabbed the handle of the sword as he stared at the towering behemoth, "Let's just get this over with."

It was then that Ichigo unsheathed his blade, and the sterling ivory blade that should be about the same size of the sheath turned into one gigantic sword. Its width was about close to ten centimetres while its height clearly surpassed a meter. It glowed with an incandescent blue light just by the edges of the blade as Ichigo could feel the power of the blade seeping through to him.

"This is just like before." Ichigo muttered to himself before performing a wild leap, bounding straight to the hollow, sword above his head.

"That idiot, He's going for full on attack like that?" Sanji asked rhetorically when Naruto had immediately stopped the orange haired boy with a tackle in mid air before a large swipe could over hope to stop them permanently.

The monster then gave another unholy roar as the ground beneath them trembled before its might.

Rukia had looked over at their target. Their commander had lectured them about the types of hollows that existed and just what their hierarchy was based on years of observation. Looking at the creature before her, she could only think of one thing that matched the descriptions that Yamamoto drilled into them.

"Menos…"

"What? You know that thing?" Zoro asked.

"A creature manifested from ingesting countless hollows. Menos are one of the top members of the hollow's hierarchy. They exist when multiple hollows fester in an area, but this… This doesn't make sense!" Rukia exclaimed.

"It's as if somebody put it here…" She muttered. With such a high level adversary that they were facing right now, she was sure that she and Ichigo couldn't handle it right now, they needed back up and they needed one badly.

"This is no time to discuss about conspiracies!" Naruto had shouted as he spawned more clones of himself to keep the monster at bay and turned back towards Ichigo and Rukia.

"Drive your sword down to that thing's skull if you have to! We're not letting it take another step here!"

Another slash attempt with his knife made of chakra, tearing off another arm and the monster hissed in pain.

"Take arms and fight! Forge your spirit to become a blade! Cut a path through that dark road and never look back!"

Rukia simply chose to stop at Naruto's words and then, she finally grinned. There was no turning back now. Every second passing is a second worth of wasted effort to stop this hollow. The others are too far from where they are right now. They won't be able to make it in time in order to stop this beast.

Wordlessly, he held her sword sideways with her left hand, just under her forearm as her right hand laid outstretched towards the monster with palm wide open.

"Kunrinsha yo! Chiniku no kamen, banshō, habataki, hito no na o kansu mono yo! Shinri to sessei, tsumi shirame yume no kabe ni wazuka ni tsume o tate yo! Hado no Sanjuusan: Sokatsui!_ (Ye Lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams, unleash but slightly, the wrath of your claws! Way of Destruction number Thirty-three: Blue Fire, Crash Down!)"_

Rukia's hand glowed in a blue light and tendrils of her spiritual energy waved inward as it gathered and compressed into a ball big enough for her palm.

**BOOM!**

The ball in her hand exploded outward in a wave of huge blue fire consuming a huge chunk of the hollow's body. This time, its howl was much more intense compared to the last, the pain was that much greater. The blue light ended, and what left of its destructive way was a gaping hole on the Menos' left side.

And much to everyone's surprise, the Menos simply could not regenerate!

Seeing their chance, Rukia unsheathed her blade just in time and rushed forward, Ichigo followed suit.

With another ball of dark matter gathering at its mouth, the Menos roared loudly as it began to fire its beam once more at the group of humans below. It, however, was not given the chance as Luffy had delivered another punch directly at its chin, sending the blast upwards.

"Get 'em, Ichigo!" Luffy shouted and when his arm retracted, Luffy bounded back.

It felt all so surreal to Ichigo, him, running and jumping up so very high, Rukia just to his side, her sword drawn as was his. He could see just how high he jumped, how wonderful it was feeling the wind touching his face and how much adrenalin was pumped in his veins. A sense of euphoria amidst the impending chaos escaped him and all that he could see, feel, and hear felt slower. Ichigo looked at his sword in the middle of his jump and glanced at the dark matter in front of him.

He grinned as an idea quickly formed into his head.

"**OORRRRAHHHHHHHH!"**

With a mighty swing, Ichigo cleaved the hollow's chest upward causing a large gash to appear and making the Menos scream in agony. He didn't stop as he landed on the only remaining free hand and proceeded to drag his sword from the top of its palm to the shoulder and straight to the face. A streak of blue energy spiking from the arm and the face escaped as Ichigo remained in midair. Just in time though, Rukia appeared on top, her sword poised over her head and Ichigo mimicked her movement.

"Eat steel, freak!" Ichigo shouted as he swung his blade down from his head and brought its righteous fury down, cleaving the mask and the unknown face behind it. The Menos stopped, dead cold in its tracks, as if it experienced a near catatonic like state before a miniscule growl escaped from its mouth and then dispersing like dust in the wind.

The battlefield where the Menos stood tall somehow changed back to normal. As Rukia's phone rang when it gave another message:

_Hollow neutralized, restoring area with spirit particles._

Once more, she smiled. She looked back towards this rather sizeable group with a wonder.

'_This group doesn't seem so bad.'_

"All's well that ends well, I suppose." Kakashi mentioned as he turned his back from the group, Rukia was immediately raising an eyebrow.

"Wait a minute, you're not about to ask any questions about our swords?"

Kakashi scratched his chin and looked thoughtful before giving off a reply, "Nah. I've already seen too much in my life, what's a couple of teenagers with special swords more?"

With that, the silver haired masked man disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Ichigo sat on his butt unceremoniously on the ground as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

"What the heck was that? I haven't even experienced a few battles and a mini boss was already there in waiting? This was just my second battle! What ever happened to gradual growth in strength?" Ichigo shouted and Naruto simply laughed at it.

"If it makes you feel better, this turned out to be my only real fight. In fact, I didn't know if I did well."

Naruto simply forgot about the fact that he got involved in a brawl just the day before.

"Well for your first time battles, I'd say it was good!" Luffy commented. With that, the boy with the straw hat gave them both a thumbs-up.

"Join me and my crew! Together, we'll rule the underground with me being the one true ruler!" Luffy declared with that grin now appearing on his face.

Sanji hit him on the head with that one, "You idiot! You weren't supposed to say that!"

"A gang, eh?" Sasuke asked with a smirk on his own, his half amused expression simply told them all.

"Should we report them down by the corps?" Sai asked while Sakura shook her head, "Nah, I don't think that they would do anything terrible."

Hinata added, "B-Besides, I don't think Namikaze-sama would appreciate that Luffy and the others be arrested on the grounds that they were just being a collective group."

Naruto simply grinned at Luffy and answered him, "Sorry, Luffy. But I'm here in search of my father. I can't just abandon my duty as his son."

Luffy simply grinned, "Alright! Let me know if you change your mind!"

It would be a few more minutes until all of them decided to head back to the restaurant where they left all of their friends.

Down by the edge of the park, a lone figure riding a motorcycle watched as he looked over by the gateway to the park, his eyes locking on the heir apparent as he grinned beneath his helmet.

He had found him. Today was his lucky day after all! His mind lingered on the fact that his target had enough power and influence to bring down the peacekeeping corps. So much so as a snap of the boy's fingers and he could bring the organization to ruin, that much power was indeed something he wished for. The boy was his ultimate bargaining chip and with the heir apparent in his clutches, he could hold the organization by the neck.

He roared the motorcycle to life and turned back to his hideout. Right now, he had to plan. It was obvious that the neighbourhood here is under Konoha's sphere of jurisdiction. He had to check first for the security of the boy before he could move in for the prize. It wouldn't do any good if he got careless after all.

Zabuza merely grinned beneath his helmet as he drove off. This was his perfect chance.

* * *

Unknown place:

"So, how did your meeting go?" One shadow asked.

"I was expectin' somethin' more actually. But I guess beggars can't be choosers can they? He's not bad, but he ain't a good candidate. You sure it's him?'

"Positive. After all, that boy is the epitome of human evolution. Years worth of research painstakingly crafted under the noses of Soul Society and that boy is the key to overcome and accelerate human evolution to a form that can even transcend God."

Silence reigned between the two. That is, until the third voice spoke.

"So it seems. But is it for the benefit of mankind to take on such acts of hubris?"

"Tosen, what you perceive is a roof and not a sky. For God is this barrier, a being of absolutes. His word is law and whatever he deems fit, makes it so. That, Tosen, is the barrier that stops man in going further and further. Beyond that of means that this being has gained is what I wish to achieve."

"For mankind? Or for yerself?"

A smile escaped the man's lips.

"That, Gin, is something for you to find out."

* * *

To be continued…

Holy crap! 17,000 words!

*faints*

How are you all doing? I've decided to update this first before anything else because even I found this damn interesting to write. Anyway, as much as I find myself being entertained by this, I'm currently working on the others. As for my reasons of tardiness, well, I'm busy with real life in going back to school and taking my degree further from a bachelor's to a professional school, medicine to be exact. So I've met a lot of speed bumps along the way but I intend to update from time to time still.

Anyway, Read and Review, people!


	6. The Call of Demons

Chapter Six: The Call of Demons

* * *

"I want to know just what the hell is wrong with you that you didn't even report about you getting your son and staying here, Kushina. Do you know the nightmares of the security measures that are being enforced on your son? Oh wait, how about the time that I had to deal with all the section chiefs and that particular spat with the Kazekage? Don't even get me started on that one!"

Kushina had the phone in her hands away from her ears as far as possible while listening to Tsunade's rant. The mother of the heir apparent simply sighed and replied to her, "I didn't expect it too, Tsunade. I've made it clear to them before I left that I reported to the corps and I was ready to head out to find my son. I've informed them that I located Naruto and I'm going to get a hold of him the day I left. Now that they placed a bounty on my son's head, then Jiraiya's suspicions can't be written off that easy."

"I thought as much. At first, I just wrote it off as one of the pervert's excuses. But after thinking this through, I realized that it could have been all true. His suspicions ultimately have merit."

A pause was present in the conversation before Tsunade asked Kushina, "Do you know something about this? Ever notice some strange behavioural patterns concerning one of he elders, at least?"

Kushina gave an indignant huff at this, "Aside from them being total jerks, not that I know off. I don't know how the hell Minato managed to put up with them all his life."

"Are you absolutely sure about this? Because if you are, then the implications are terribly unsettling, it means that someone is controlling one of the noble houses." Tsunade asked. Her voice was grim. The more they thought about it, the more serious the situation turned out to be.

"I have an inkling suspicion, though. Out of all the heirs, Naruto has yet to receive the rite of succession. The ceremony is the moment where the entirety of the noble houses recognizes Naruto as not the heir of the Namikaze household but its formal leader." Kushina mentioned, melancholy making it known to her. How time flied so fast. She could still clearly remember holding her son with her arms when he was still an infant.

"What does that have to do with the desperate attempts?"

"The ceremony isn't just a recognition event; it's also the moment where Naruto and the Kyuubi's Jewel would have to be at its most vulnerable state. Because it is the moment where Naruto would try to subdue its power and reinforce the seal. By that time, Naruto would be placed alone in the room of sealing, where he's most vulnerable to be taken away."

"You're saying that whoever is after your son, will most likely strike during the rite of succession?"

Kushina affirmed her suspicions as she talked to Konoha's section chief, "That may actually be the case."

Kushina could hear Tsunade's exasperated sigh over the phone as she said, "Your kid is fine right now, right?"

At this, Kushina seemed to perk up as she said to the phone with a smile, "He's with his friends right now and having some sightseeing done. It's the most he has had fun for a long time. I've never seen him so active!"

"Kushina, you're being too lax with your own son's safety. The people I've sent to guard your son can't even qualify as good bodyguards probably except for one. Heck, they can't even be qualified at anything involving our work! Let me recall them and give you better bodyguards. This is your son's and the country's security we're talking about here!"

Kushina would have none of it, though.

"Sorry, Tsunade, I'm going to stick with what you've given me. They're a really odd bunch, but they've recently done wonders for my son. Heck no am I letting a bunch of stiffs go anywhere near my son! He already has a lot of them back home!"

The chief growled out in frustration at the Namikaze matriarch's stubbornness.

"Don't be stupid! Your son is most likely being chased down by the country's most viscous crime lords for all we know! There are already rumors flying around about that they're placing the boy as a bargaining chip to grab the Namikaze household's power! You can't possibly be putting the fate of your own son in the hands of my most dysfunctional team not with the current predicament!"

At this, Kushina shook her head and clicked her tongue as she lectured the section chief, "Tsunade, Tsunade, Tsunade, don't you know that you need to trust your people to get the job done from time to time? A bunch of misfits will turn to the most unlikely team given the right circumstance. Isn't that what happened to you three?"

"Yeah, and look where it got us now? One of my teammates is a world famous smut author while the other went bat shit crazy for some reason or another. Gee, I wonder how many wonders THAT will do to Kakashi's team?" Tsunade replied, sarcasm dripping out of her voice. Kushina dismissed it as just another moment where Tsunade was just venting her stress. Honestly, she wondered how long Tsunade got laid.

Not that she had a right to say something on the matter of course; but Kushina's last time with Minato was when after she gave birth to their one and only son.

"That's not the point, Tsunade. What I mean is that those kids grow better when they are faced with the most unlikely situations. Give them enough time, I'm pretty sure they'll impress you with their progress sooner rather than later."

"For your son's sake, I hope it's sooner rather than later, Kushina."

Kushina simply smiled, "Oh, don't worry about that. Besides, his bodyguards aren't the only thing that's keeping him safe. Now if you please excuse me, I need to polish something."

That something, Tsunade noticed, was probably Kushina's weapon, Yakumo Tatsu (Eight Clouds Rising).

Like Minato, Kushina was infamous throughout her career as a member of the corps. Kushina hailed from one of the Namikaze Clan's most trusted adjutant families. The Uzumaki was a clan of fierce swordsmanship and seals mastery, something they have gotten from the clan household itself. Kushina had a different style in holding her weapon as she was able to mix her swordplay with multiple elements and a very wild and unpredictable style of swordsmanship.

Along with her red hair, she had gained a fierce reputation within the corps as the bloody habanero. Something that brought chills down to the spines of her enemies during the days of her service.

Now, being a supposedly single parent, Kushina had no choice but to quit her job as a member of the force and had to raise her son without the doting and condescending eyes of the Namikaze Household's council. In all respects, Kushina was the closest thing Naruto had for a best friend. She watched her son grow alone and be labelled as the heir. She was her son's only lifeline for sanity back then, as the people from the house made their son pay the price of his father's disappearance.

But now that Naruto had friends he could get along with and skills to help him along the way, she could focus much more on something else.

And that something was getting rid of anyone who dares lay a foul hand on her son. Her only proof left of Minato's love for her as well as the boy she loved from the day he was born; Kushina would never let anything take away her son's happiness. Even if it meant going up against the very people that allowed shelter to her, being the wife of the Namikaze Head.

"I swear to you, son, I'll destroy anyone that will try to take you away from me."

With that, Kushina grabbed her Katana from her room and silently went to her private training hall to once more polish her skill at her already deadly swordplay.

* * *

With Naruto and the Others:

Many bystanders were staring at their group as they walked around the mall while they guide Naruto in his exploration.

"Wow… So this is a mall." He said in awe while looking upwards, a moment of childlike wonder escaped his face.

"There are so many things to see in here! I'm not even sure what to do!"

Seeing a boy wearing the traditional light blue kimono and a black Hakama underneath a navy blue haori was an uncommon sight around the people from the city.

"I knew this was going to be difficult the moment I saw his outfit." Sasuke muttered holding back an urge to grit his teeth in annoyance.

"It was either that or he wear the Showa era outfit." Sakura reminded but Sasuke didn't seem convinced at all.

"I could care less. He should know that we needed a low profile, and this is as low profile as a celebrity showing his face in broad daylight." Sasuke scoffed at it, forcing Sakura to glare at the Uchiha at his comment while Sai simply gave a creepy smile.

"It matters not, it's either that or it's the uniforms that we're wearing that seems to have the people staring." Sai commented referring to them wearing their standard issue Corps uniform making all of them stand out in the crowd, even Hinata wasn't safe from Kakashi's instructions.

"That lazy no good officer of ours wants us to act as decoys, I'll bet. He wants our enemies' attention be diverted away from the real members of the security team." Sasuke mentioned this as they watched Naruto enter the department store.

"Is it really? I don't see anything wrong with that. So far, it's been relatively peaceful and people have this non-verbal perception that they need to stay away from you guys." Ichigo mentioned this as Chad, Tatsuki and Orihime all nodded at the same time.

"I-It's because they work rather covertly without other people knowing. F-For all we know, they would have probably taken down quite a few bounty hunters just outside our field of vision." Hinata informed them causing Ichigo and Tatsuki to raise their visible eyebrow at this.

"Oh, you guys work like super spies, huh?" Orihime asked, doing her best imitation of a spy by hiding under a cardboard box that she just randomly found.

"Is she always this ditzy?" Sakura asked, watching Orihime coming out of the box and pantomiming her hands as if she was holding a gun.

"From time to time, she gets her dose of insanity this town is known for, but apart from that she's easier to hang out with than Keigo and the others." Tatsuki commented earning a smile from Orihime as if she was proud of herself.

"That means she's probably above Sasuke in terms of being sociable." Sai mentioned earning a glare from Sakura. The last thing they needed right now was dissent and she did not want to have another conversation involving insults and praise. She turned to Sasuke thinking that the Uchiha might be offended at Sai's words but surprisingly, he shrugged.

"I can't help it if I hate you all."

To the rest of the gang's response, they should have expected that answer from Sasuke.

Chad scratched his head at the Uchiha's matter-of-fact tone of answering, "Well, at least he's being honest about it."

Orihime raised her hand as she seemed that she wanted to ask a question, "If that's true, Uchiha-kun, then why do you continue to let us hang out with you and not go with the rest of the super spies?"

Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow at this and answered normally, "I have a lot of tolerance."

"That or he just likes to freeload. Kushina-san makes really good food and from what I can tell, you'll feel like you've been eating sewer water all throughout your life until you've tried hers." Sai mentioned, causing Sasuke, this time, to glare at their blunt companion while the others held a green face from Sai's comparison.

"So, what if I like her cooking? You'd be missing half of your brain to dislike what she cooks up." Sasuke defended.

"Now that got me curious. Maybe we should pay Naruto's place a visit next time just for the food." Tatsuki mentioned this, half joking, half serious.

"I bet Luffy would be endeared with that idea." Chad commented earning nods from everyone else.

"Speaking of which, that guy couldn't come today, any of you know why?" Ichigo asked while the rest of the members shrugged.

Naruto had just exited the store with a goofy smile on his face while all the saleswomen were telling him that he was an idiot for entering one of the changing rooms while a person was indecent. He apologized with an abashed tone of voice after that when he heard about the gang's topic went to Luffy.

"So how about we go and visit him then?" Naruto asked, an excited look that could tell he really wanted to do it told them that they almost felt like they didn't have a choice.

By this time, Sakura grabbed her teammates and huddled together to talk about their game plan.

"I refuse to follow that idiot's whims any longer! From what I can remember, Luffy usually hangs out by the old docks downtown, you know that place right? That simpleton would be throwing himself to the wolves if it happens!"

Sakura knew that part of town as the lawless area, or at least, a despot of people trying to run away from the law. Their branch claimed no jurisdiction there but she was pretty sure that majority of the area is owned by either a politician or a wealthy businessman. She forgot but it certainly doesn't erase the fact that it was a perilous location.

She wondered how Luffy and his crew manage there.

* * *

Unknown location:

"The boss surely likes to put on a bold move even though he prides himself in being subtle." One man said, reading several papers that told him about their current fugitive, the daughter of Arabasta's CEO.

Another voice, this time that of a woman, chuckled as she stared at the picture of an aqua haired girl and one that resembled the heir of the Namikaze household, "Two clan heirs in the same span. Ambitious but admirable, Mr. Zero does what he does best, taking and monopolizing opportunities."

The other chuckled as well as he continued, "He assigned _him_ to capture the heir, huh? Not exactly someone I would want in a retrieval mission. He has a lot of 'accidents' anytime the boss wants him to be his errand boy."

"But he knows more about the corps than any of us here so I can at least add a stipulation to get the clan heir here without as much as a mangled limb here and there. If I was Mr. Zero and if I were about to tangle with the Corps, I would put my investments on the person who knows more about it than I do. You need not to worry, Mr. Five." The woman mentioned.

"You worry too little. Demon has a mean streak as a member. Whatever job he's usually involved in, there's got to be some form of casualty. He's dangerous like that. People of his kind are better off locked up in an asylum. Sometimes I worry about your trust in the team, Ms. Valentine. Demon would most likely be a threat to the boss after he gets what he wants."

"And that is?" The woman now identified as Ms. Valentine mentioned with a smile, either fully aware of their current situation or she was completely lost.

"It's money that he wants, the greedy bastard. Boss must like to keep him because he works efficiently. But aside from that, one of them would discard each other given the chance." Mr. Five mentioned this as he tipped his sunglasses down and looked closer at the picture of their target.

Poor girl had the gall to infiltrate their group while Mr. Zero already knew who it was. It never became apparent to her that they were just egging her on and their plans were never really true when they talked about it in front of her. They were simply after her from the start.

"Do we have a lead for the girl?" He asked and Ms. Valentine gave a smile, "Yes, we've managed to find her in the lawless part of town. She was seen with an unusual pet that we can tell is a moose."

"There is a moose in Japan? Are you serious?" Mr. Five asked incredulously while Ms. Valentine gave the man a copy of a shot of their target indeed with what looked like a moose with a red top hat.

"Yes, our scouts say that they saw her just a last afternoon as they were strolling around. Apparently, she was saved by a group of ruffians that just started and subsequently ended a gang war just a few months ago. Details are vague since there weren't any concrete statements about just who or what the group is, but they tell us that they were 'freaks'."

"Freaks, eh?" Mr. Five mused out loud before grinning slightly.

"Ms. Valentine, I think it's time we take a visit to Ms. Vivi and her little friends."

A smirk escaped his lips as he said those words.

* * *

The Strawhats:

To think that a small group of misfits had a sense of understanding with each other that so few people ever have was somewhat of an oddity for everybody else.

Even for Vivi, she found it completely unbelievable just how these people could stand being with one another everyday despite their squabbles and petty arguments that led to either bruises or a severe contusion with both requiring a trip down at the doctor's room.

She didn't even want to THINK about what the Doctor was, she was already confused enough.

"Luffy! If you come into the kitchen and ask when is your next meal one more time I'll smash this frying pan on your face!"

Vivi had to stop her thinking for a moment as she saw Luffy running away from Sanji who was carrying over his head a frying pan and a skillet.

"Man, I can't find a decent bed in this dump." Another voice decided to make his presence known as the man with the green hair walked over to Vivi's side with an expression that told him he was drowsy.

The green haired teen looked over to her with that fish eyed expression and asked her, "You there, you know where some of the beds are? I'm kind of feeling sleepy right now."

Vivi then pointed wordlessly to the small ward that the honest-to-goodness reindeer for a doctor uses when treating his patients, which was constantly used more often than not because of countless injuries that this ragtag of misfits and sociopaths constantly had to go through _just by being around one another_.

She couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for the cute animal.

Her thoughts were suddenly cut off once more when she saw Zoro heading to the opposite direction, Vivi, curious enough, just had to ask.

"Where are you going, Zoro-san?"

Zoro turned back to her and answered Vivi's question as if it was rhetorical, "To take a nap of course. I'm going to that ward because those guys are too noisy."

Zoro pointed to Ussop who was looking like he was tinkering something then to Nami who was reading a book.

"Uh, you're pointing at the wrong directions." Vivi kindly corrected Zoro who growled at the girl's statement.

"Don't tell me where I should point, lady! I know where I'm going!"

To that, Zoro once more went to the opposite direction to where Vivi pointed.

'_You don't even know where you're going!' _Vivi mentally screamed as Zoro went to who-knows-where.

She heard a scream and something hitting flesh inside and immediately turned and saw Luffy's head planted to the floor while Nami was carrying a broken bat.

"You're too noisy, be quiet." Nami replied in a flat voice as she went back to her book while the Moose-Doctor was attending to Luffy's wounds.

"Aren't any of you going to stop Zoro and lead him back here?" Vivi asked while all of them, even Luffy whose head was being excavated by the Moose-Doctor, shrugged.

"He'll find his way back. He's just too prideful to admit that he has problems with directions." Nami replied while flipping through the pages, Vivi had a bead of sweat at the back of her head as she looked at orange head and then to the rest of the misfits.

"Marimo has tendency to get offended when people point out his shortcomings be it directly or indirectly. It's just one of his many ugly personalities." Sanji mentioned with disdain as he was going back to the makeshift Kitchen that Ussop had built.

"And you don't?" Ussop mumbled while rolling his eyes as he read some schematics that Vivi was sure that involved the entire warehouse.

"Oh man, I'm hungry again. Sanji! Is it meal time yet?"

"SON OF A BITCH, LUFFY, I TOLD YOU IT'LL BE READY WHEN IT'S READY!"

She had to stifle her laughter slowly. Because even though they might be a bunch of no good misfits, even though they show that they were showing that they hate each other, she could tell that they understood one another, that they could tell how each other behaves at one point and the next. She couldn't exactly tell why, but being around these people sounded fun.

Her momentary bliss was cut short when she heard something outside, something other than what she had come accustomed to inside. It was different yet all the same. It was then that a thundering sound, shaking the earth and making it seem like a giant somehow stepped near. The deafening sound occurred just to the entrance of the small warehouse, where Zoro was very close.

**BOOM!  
**

A sudden chill crawled up in her spine, as something made her want to throw up.

No, it was them! It was the agents! They found her! They were going to take her away! Every single one of the people here will die just so that they could get to her!

She had to run, get away before they could do anymore damage to these people that were kind enough to take her in! She had to run for their sake!

Her panic suddenly came to a stop when a hand touched her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Luffy asked to her, and Vivi's thoughts changed from her panic to worry.

"Get away from here! There are people after me! People with connections! If you stay with me now, you'll only get killed!"

Luffy looked at her seriously and then upwards to where Nami was who was holding her head, but seemingly looking at the entrance and completely focused of the task at hand.

"Two people, a man and a woman, they're outside intimidating Zoro and making a mess of things outside. Be careful, they're just like the rest of us."

Luffy only gave a single nod before turning back to Vivi.

"Stay put and don't go anywhere, you're safer here than outside." Luffy said in a serious tone before walking outside, holding with him, Zoro's three swords that he uses in combat following Sanji, hands in his pockets and a stick of cigarette in his mouth.

"You people have no idea who you're dealing with! You'll die!"

Luffy simply turned back to her as did Sanji, the two of them merely gave a grin at her while Sanji replied,

"I think it's them who should know who they're dealing with. We took down a Warlord of the Underworld after all."

"No, you should run! You people definitely won't survive!"

"And then what?" Luffy asked the girl as Vivi promptly kept quiet.

"Do you think it'd be safer just because you manage to get away? The more you try to run, the worse it will get. So that's why, whatever it is you're thinking right now, throw it all away. Because you won't be able to say anything that could convince me with my mind made up." And with that, the group leader and their cook walked away while Ussop grabbed her and escorted her along with Nami to one of the warehouse's safest areas, namely, the underground shelter.

Outside, Sanji, Luffy and Zoro were staring at two people, a man and a woman, as Nami had mentioned, standing right in front of them. Smoke and dust billowed between the two as the wind carried it away, revealing a portion of their hideout was struck down with the two watching casually at them.

"I expected a little more out of the group that took down one of the Warlords. I didn't think that they looked like THIS." The male spoke as Luffy, Zoro and Sanji's face turned into a scowl.

The woman simply giggled at their expressions as she said while twirling her orange umbrella, "Come now, must you people give us that face? We should be the ones feeling angry here. After all, you have something that belongs to us."

Zoro seemed to scoff at it as Luffy handed him over his swords while tying up his bandana on his forehead.

"I ain't interested in your hobbies, lady. Now scram before I chase you off our property." Zoro mentioned this as he drew his swords just after putting one between his teeth.

"My, my, a brat and already acting like an old man. I pity the day that you get to have children." The lady commented, earning a smirk from Zoro.

"Yeah, right…"

Just then, Zoro dashed at the duo like a shark sensing prey. The swordsman leaned closer down to gain more momentum as he charged at his first likely target, the guy who was disgustingly picking his nose.

The man simply pointed to Zoro who was dangerously getting close to him and aimed his booger at the swordsman and flung it with his finger. Not fully understanding what the gesture had meant, but decided to act nonetheless, Zoro crossed his right leg before his left causing him to spun, gaining much needed space to dodge and countered with swords, already in mid-swing of a horizontal slice and cleaving the offending projectile with the sword in his left hand.

The projectile was divided into two while the other fell down just behind Zoro, the other hit the roof top of their hideout, both exploding and causing Zoro to lose his balance while another booger was aimed at his face.

'_Crap!'_

Zoro cursed as he was suddenly left exposed to the sights of the man with the shades, the swordsman knew that the man's target was his face. The shot never came though, as Sanji had immediately jumped at the chance to kick the man's arm that sent the disgusting projectile upwards and then following it up with another kick, this time straight at the man's chin. The agent barely dodged the blow as Sanji's foot grazed the man by the cheek but quickly drawing blood. Sanji landed down on the ground crouching as Luffy appeared from behind, ricocheting himself at the assailant head first.

Luffy literally flew to the agent at impossible speeds while he shouted, "Gomu Gomu no Gattling!"

His rapid fire punches easily appeared as he neared the agent. Sanji was quick to jump to his left as Zoro went to the agent's side, intent on taking him down or at least immobilizing him for Luffy's attack.

The agent cursed.

He had never expected this group to be able to put up a fight like this one. As he was about to brace himself from the swordsman and the berserk fist fighter, an umbrella suddenly interrupted Zoro's swing and an intercepting kick straight to Luffy's face skidding the boy on the cement floor.

Surprised by the umbrella's sturdiness, Zoro jumped back before another strike was about to be made at him. He glared at the person who had stopped his attack midway and dropped his stance.

"Oh, you didn't forget about me did you?" The woman asked, opening her umbrella once more and twirling it before setting it on her shoulders.

The man beside her simply turned his head in disdain and the female agent sighed, "Must you be so prideful, Mr Five?"

The man, now identified as Mr Five, replied, "I had them, Ms Valentine."

"Getting almost pummelled and sliced to bits doesn't sound like you were in control, Mr. Five." The woman replied, clearly joking, as she was chuckling at the event earlier.

"They caught me off guard, I guarantee you that it won't happen again." Mr. Five mentioned this as he picked his nose once more and this time, he aimed it at Sanji.

"I underestimated you lot. I thought you were all people that are in above your heads to think you could take two agents of Baroque Works. I guess I didn't take you all seriously, for that I must apologize." Once he was done rolling the offending projectile at his hands, he aimed it at the cook in training.

Just then, the man's projectile flew at a speed faster than it was before, and this time, Sanji was the one caught of guard.

**BOOM!**

Sanji was sent flying back from Mr Five's direct hit to his chest spewing Sanji's blood from the wound he received.

"SANJI!"

Luffy looked in horror and watch Sanji struck down by the projectile and falling down on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Luffy turned his vision back and saw the man aiming for him this time.

"Onigiri (Demon Slash)!"

A streak of aquamarine and white had almost sliced him in to ribbons as Zoro appeared just in front of him, with his blades dangerously close to cutting him down. But it was Zoro's attack was blocked in mid swing by the appearance of the lady in orange with her umbrella. Zoro cursed inwardly and resorted to another technique.

"Tatsu Maki (Dragon Twister)!"

Zoro spun. His powerful swing caused an updraft of wind from his surroundings as the woman was sent spiralling upwards with a powerful gust of wind in the shape of a spiralling dragon with the lady losing her balance, she was sent flying away from the swordsman as he went for the agent next.

"Now you've pissed me off." Zoro said those words with a cold tone. As if his words chilled the very earth itself.

"Gomu Gomu no Rifle!" a spinning extending arm zipped its way to Mr Five who had once more barely dodged the blow and hitting a small rocky area, crushing it to dust from Luffy's attack. The agent turned back to the black haired youth and no longer was it a face of determination; this was a face of rage.

Such an attack was unforgivable. These people will pay!

As Luffy retracted his arm back, his other spinning hand already on the launch, his rage was like a raging fire that felt almost impossible to quell.

Luffy jumped when he saw the agent jump from his place. The rubber boy spun in mid air, rolling forward like a baseball slamming on to the agent. Latching on to his opponent, reeled his head back in quite a distance stretching back to impossible lengths that astonished Mr Five.

"Gomu Gomu no Kane!"

Luffy's head snapped back as he saw the boy's head crashing to his face at an impeccable speed.

**SLAM!**

Mr Five felt his word spinning as he was suddenly slammed with an obvious headbutt that he couldn't exactly react to. By now, he felt himself being mercilessly thrown on to the ground when his legs were harshly grabbed. The concrete floor cratered from the force of the throw and from his weight. Trying to get a sense of where he was and paying attention around him, Mr Five felt two strong and blunt sensations on his abdomen and saw Luffy already pulling his legs back. He was about to get up when Luffy was about to perform his rapid fire fisticuffs while descending to him like an unholy bomb intent on wiping him out.

Luffy never did manage to connect though, as an orange meteor suddenly intercepted him and sending both it and Luffy down to the other side of the area as a small explosion took place around it.

Luffy could feel a crushing weight threatening to tear his body apart as he was sent down to the floor that gave in from the force of the impact. Above him, the female was standing. Her orange stiletto shoes were stepping on his abdomen as she was smiling down at him mockingly.

"Ah, I always did have a sense of accomplishment when I take people by surprise." Ms Valentine commented as she looked down at Luffy who could only glare at her as his mouth seeped with blood from the force of her attack.

"Nothing personal, Mr Rubber, but you forced our hand." With that, Ms Valentine folded her umbrella and out of the tip of her accessory popped a single pointed blade.

Her pleasant demeanour turned deranged as her smile became twisted, crooked and homicidal. Luffy could only watch as she raised her umbrella with the tip pointing down at his head but was suddenly stopped by three swords that blocked her from killing her target.

Zoro interfered with the killing blow and dashed at the woman who by now jumped back at an incredible distance.

'_Is this lady the same as Sanji? That's some considerable airtime only Sanji could pull!' _Zoro thought in surprise as he ran at the woman with his hand swords now just above his mouth.

"Tora Gari (Tiger Hunt)!"

Zoro slashed down, intent on taking this woman down but was suddenly struck from behind by the other agent. Zoro flinched from the blow, but still, he kept his stance while he charged at the other agent. As he neared his opponent, Zoro let go a pair of powerful downward slashes that the lady easily avoided but not before swung the blade in his mouth sideways to deal a light cut on the lady's abdomen that had barely gotten out of that attack alive.

The lady stopped and looked down on her orange tank top, taking note of a small drip of blood falling as Zoro was suddenly pounded once more with another set of explosive boogers that made him lose his balance this time.

Burned and wounded beyond what many humans would consider, Zoro managed to still stand at that and turned back at the man with a very dangerous look in his eyes.

'_You damn pest! I'll take care of you first!' _Zoro thought as he shifted his target from the woman that looked like she was shocked at first, thinking that she wouldn't do anything threatening to him for a while. Zoro ran at the man and jumped in midair, his blood spilling on the ground as he did so. He spun wildly as he approached the black man with the sunglasses who was now grabbing small marbles from his pocket. With a wide grin coming from his face, Mr Five began flicking them at Zoro continuously as the swordsman began thrusting his swords multiple times.

"Yasha Garasu (Yaksa Crow)!" Zoro shouted, hitting the marbles with the tip of his sword in a continuous display of thrusts and spins. The marbles exploded and sending out countless shrapnel around them as it pierced Zoro's skin and cutting him as he persevered with his attack as smoke soon surrounded his form.

Zoro burst out from the smoke, bloody, burned and cut. The only thing recognizable left with him was his aquamarine hair as his whole body was battered. Still, he persevered and continued his thrusts at the male agent that was trying his best to evade most of his attacks that were now noticeably slower than a few moments ago.

With a thrust to the abdomen that Mr Five evaded by bending back slightly, Zoro saw his chance and immediately charged in with Oni Giri.

It was not to be though, as pain coursed through him like never before on his lower torso. He looked down and saw a pointed object protruded from Zoro's abdomen stopping him from ever cutting down Mr Five. Turning back, he saw Ms Valentine with a dishevelled look on her hair, breathing heavily and a scowl that was worse than anything he could see in a woman. Her arm was outstretched with her umbrella pointing towards him.

Ms Valentine mercilessly yanked her umbrella out as Zoro fell down on his knees. He could not speak, too surprised by the sudden movement that the woman had did.

"Hey."

Zoro looked up, his attention focused on someone that called him, he saw Mr Five pointing at him and finally firing his projectile at him as it exploded just right at his face.

Zoro fell down backwards, his swords falling down from his grip as he was struck down without remorse.

He couldn't scream and he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't tell just how much he was bleeding, but he could feel that something was shaking him furiously.

'_I'll get you back for this.' _ Zoro said it as his last thoughts before fading to black.

Mr Five watched in subtle amusement as Ms Valentine kept kicking the downed boy with a furious look on her face.

To make her bleed like this, to make her take her job seriously was infuriating for her! This boy deserved every beating that he could get from her!

"Stop it, Ms Valentine. We have a job here."

As if a switch had been turned, Ms Valentine stopped and turned to the warehouse, but not before giving the half dead boy another kick as his blood stained her stiletto shoes.

As they were about to enter the warehouse, a stretched leg swept both of them from their feet and the wind was knocked right out of them.

They crashed to a nearby dumpster and looked at the source of their hindrance. It was the black haired boy, looking at them with much contempt.

"You're not taking a step in Merry any further!"

Stunned by the boy's sudden attack, they were both unprepared as Luffy began charging at them while he spun his right arm before stretching it.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

The arm stretched at impossible lengths and going by far as fast as its name implied. Both Mr Five and Ms Valentine dodged the blow as the metallic container was left severely dented by Luffy's attack. Seeing how devastating Luffy's blow was if they were to be hit, Mr Five charged at Luffy seamlessly as he cocked his fist back and was about to punch Luffy in the face while Ms Valentine bounded from her place and bounced off a wooden pole to jump high.

As Luffy reared back, dodging a punch from the male agent, he ducked from another punch as he stepped back. Leaning back and letting a fist sail past, Luffy was quick to jump back when he saw his assailant's arm descending at him. Mr Five's fist collided with the concrete floor and it exploded in a loud boom sending both him and Mr Five flying away from each other.

It was then that Ms Valentine descended to her like a rocket from above at mach speed. Luffy rolled away and stretched his right leg upwards this time and quickly slammed it down on his opponents that were already scrambling away from his attack.

"Annoying little insect, isn't he?" Mr Five asked adjusting his sunglasses taking out another marble to aim at him.

"We've wasted too much time here. I say we end this now, wouldn't you think you Mr Five?" Ms Valentine asked while the black man simply nodded.

"You'll pay for hurting my friends." Luffy only replied as he reared his arms back. They'll pay for what they did to Sanji and the beating that Zoro took from them, they'll pay for threatening them, for making light of their skills and finally, for trying to destroy their hideout.

"Gomu Gomu no…" Luffy leaned forward, stretching his arms back to the maximum. It was then that he was peppered by multiple tiny explosions sent to him by the black man and shrapnel found its way embedding on to Luffy's skin. The black haired youth flinched as he felt the pain coursing through him like a thousand needles were prickling him.

Still, he persevered and lashed his arms forward with as much power as he could while bracing for the recoil.

"Bazooka!" His arms shot straight and true, finding its way to Mr Five at impossible speeds. The rubber boy's reach was not enough however, as Ms Valentine literally dropped on him from the sky and smashing Luffy once more to the ground before she jumped away. Luffy cringed in pain as he fell down. He looked at the woman and defiantly, he fought back. Luffy grabbed the woman's leg and swung her at her fellow agent at front. The man simply stood there as Ms Valentine careened at the man. With smirks sporting their faces, the two collided. But neither of them was harmed as Ms Valentine collided with Mr Five. Luffy's eyes widened at that as Mr Five and Ms Valentine stood up, perfectly fine.

"Surprised? Don't be, it's just our abilities." Said the blonde woman with a smile as she jumped on Mr Five's shoulders, who had been simply adjusting his sunglasses. The man had barely flinched from the act as Ms Valentine stood erect on his shoulder.

"Don't assume that just because you have powers, you are unbeatable. People like us, who dwell within the shadows, have organizations and small groups that make up the heart of the Underworld's society. Unfortunately for you, our organization, the most secretive and arguably the most dangerous have crossed paths with you. You have something with us that we need, badly. To refuse us is to stir trouble with us."

The man grunted as he said to the leader, "Amateurs, all of you. You don't even know who you're facing with. I admit that more than once you caught us off guard but this time, this all ends here."

"Don't count on it!"

With a shout, two streaks of blue and black slammed both agents as they were sent flying from where they were and crashing into different parts of the area.

Luffy looked on in surprise, as Naruto and Ichigo appeared just in front of him, while for more appeared just behind him.

"More nuisances…" Mr Five felt frustrated at that, just how many more of these _insects _were willing to pop up just so that they could stop them?

Uchiha Sasuke's eyes shifted and turned blood red and three black tomoe began encircling the iris as he stared at the black man that was picking his nose.

"Big words coming from a man with worse habits than a hobo, I bet the suit is just a rental that you probably stole." The Uchiha said with a smirk, he was hoping he'd get a rise out of this guy. The man simply raised an eyebrow and scowled at the Uchiha's remark.

"I'll have you know that I bought this for three hundred thousand yen."

"It doesn't excuse you from looking like a homeless bum." The Uchiha mentioned in a condescending tone as he grabbed a scroll from his pocket and unsealed its content, revealing a chokuto and a small standard issue Glock-17 pistol.

"You okay, Luffy?" Naruto asked, offering a hand to help the black haired boy to get back on his feet. The ring leader of the Strawhats gladly took the blonde's hand and asked him with a smile.

"What are you guys doing here?" Luffy asked and Ichigo simply replied, "Naruto wanted to see what you were up to since you couldn't come to his invite today. We know you wouldn't miss a free meal for the world so we all thought that you had something to do. And wouldn't you know it? We find you here at your own place picking a fight and getting your asses kicked by these clowns."

To this, Ichigo hefted the gigantic blade on his shoulders and pointed to the duo in front of them.

"I think that boy deserves a medal for being so insulting despite his cliché line." Ms Valentine said and Mr Five nodded and flung his rolled up explosive booger at Ichigo. Sasuke was quick to intercept the incoming projectile with his gun and the bullet met its target head on causing a small explosion happening in the middle.

By this time, Sakura was now tending to the downed members of the Strawhats and Sai was already starting his drawing techniques. Naruto stopped him, however.

"Sai, get Orihime and the others out of here, and if possible, Luffy's crew. Things are about to get ugly here."

"Damn that stung like a bitch…" Zoro mentioned as he cradled the now closed wound on his abdomen courtesy of Sakura's healing jutsu. She turned to the other member, downed but he was looking like he was still conscious. His pain threshold must have been enormous to have endured the pain for as long as he had.

Sakura turned Sanji over and began doing her work, all the while Hinata kept close watch of the agents that were approaching them slowly.

The woman turned her gaze from the pink haired medic to the spiky blonde boy that was staring at them both with a wary but intense gaze.

"Mr Five, isn't he…?" As if reading her mind to her question, Mr Five answered at once, "It is as he is described from the news, blonde hair, blue eyes and three distinct markings on each of his cheeks. Ms Valentine, I think he have found two of Mr Zero's targets."

"Shall we usurp Demon's job then?" She asked, hoping that the man's answer was a yes out of the unimaginable accomplishment this could mean for their organization like taking down the corps or even better, submitting them to their will.

"I'd like that." He responded as he ran at the group and taking out some small marbles from his pockets letting them all fly at once. Sasuke watched them all with his eyes as they all seemed like molasses to him. They were all slow in his perception and quickly, his eyes darted left and right to the sight of the marbles flying their way towards them. Sasuke reacted and began blasting every marble he could see with his gun. Each shot, precise and each shot, timed perfectly.

Jumping up, Mr Five fired more of his projectiles at the group that Sasuke kept blocking with his gun.

It was then that Zoro had appeared behind the smoke. Looking like he was given his second wind as Mr Five noticed the shit eating grin that was plastered on Zoro's face.

"Yasha Garasu!"

Zoro spun in mid air once more like a mad top and began thrusting with his three swords as Mr Five was left vulnerable. Mr Five twisted and turned as he was swept by Zoro's attack before being sent back to the ground, courtesy of Kurosaki Ichigo slammed the flat side of his blade at Mr Five's abdomen.

The agent flinched as he got up. Frustrated at how much his ranged attacks were useless right now, Mr Five quickly got up and brought out a .44 calibre six shot revolver. He took a deep breath and began breathing deeply into the small cylinder and aimed his pistol at the smoke that was clearing. He held the wrist of his right hand with his left for support and began firing away at the group that dared to defy them. Bullets were once more released from Sasuke's pistol, intercepting faced Mr Five bullet for bullet. Behind him, was Zoro who was charging with his upper torso leaning forward.

The Uchiha said to the swordsman, "I can predict most of his movements and his projectiles with my ability, if you want him taken down for good, you'll have to listen to what I say and strike him from there."

Zoro raised his eyebrow at this as he saw the Uchiha firing his handgun and slashing down the balls of compressed explosive air with his chokuto that got too close to them. Those bullets were hard to dodge and almost impossible to counter! The only reason that he had slashed those projectiles earlier was that he knew were the bastard was aiming and that was too obvious with his finger flicks! But with a gun, that was different. And that difference became huge if your reflexes weren't as good as the guy before him. You were dead if you charged head on at the agent.

It was why Zoro was willing to follow instructions right now. As long as he could get the final hit in, then it was fine.

Naruto performed a familiar technique as two clones popped in existence. The first one jumped and used a midair roll as the second performed something different this time as he was enveloped with smoke. The original then caught the first clone that was rolling in mid air and threw it just above Mr Five and Naruto reached for the plume of smoke that covered his clone and from the billowing covers of the haze that covered his clone, out came a giant four bladed object sickle like in appearance, the size of a child and rotating like the rotor blades of a chopper. The force of the rotation gave off small gusts of wind around him as he let the metallic weapon fly from his hands and straight to the blonde's target. The Shuriken screeched in midair as it flew, changing its pattern of flight vertically as it went past Zoro and Sasuke while they dashed at Mr Five.

The agent raised his eyebrow at this and jumped, letting the object pass by him not noticing the clone that Naruto had was flown earlier. Mr Five realized his mistake too late when a clone had struck from above with an axe kick to the man's face that sent him straight to the ground with another clone from before, the one that changed into that giant four bladed weapon earlier, intercepted him and kicked him back towards where Sasuke and Zoro where.

"Get him." Was only Sasuke's command as he performed a reverse somersault and landed on the opposite side, Chokuto ready as Zoro was already in his favoured stance.

"Oni Giri (Demon Slash)!"

"Chidori Gatana (Sword Chirping of a Thousand Birds)"

In a flash, both swordsmen sliced through the agent whose momentum was stopped in midair as he was struck.

Naruto then created another clone and held on to Luffy as he stretched back. Ichigo jumped hefting the giant blade above his head as Naruto threw Luffy towards where the orange head was and allowed Luffy to use the flat side of his blade like a platform as Luffy stepped on it in reverse before making a leap towards the bloodied Agent.

"Gomu Gomu no…" Luffy stretched his arms back before letting go a series of rapid fire punches downwards.

"Ricochet Gattling!"

Mr Five's eyes widened as he saw the descending boy with the straw hat going crazy and pummelling him hard on the ground.

All he could say before being enveloped in a sea of black and blue was one thing.

"Shit."

At the same time with Sakura and the others:

When Sanji was completely healed, he noticed how he felt better when the pain vanished from his body. He looked to his right and saw his pink haired angel touching where it was most painful. A touch of the girl's hand and Sanji was sure that he had died and gone to heaven.

"Beautiful angel with the rosy pink hair, where have you been for all of my life?" He asked and the pink haired girl looked thoroughly confused at that.

"Hey, snap out of it man! We have job to do and it involves taking that lady down!" Sakura pointed to the floating woman who was twirling her umbrella in midair while Hinata kept a close watch.

"If I take it down would you promise to give me a kiss?" Sanji asked earning a look from Sakura that screamed bloody murder if he asked anymore questions that bordered on harassment.

"Get her or I'll snap your spine like a twig." To emphasize her point, Sakura grabbed a small lead pipe from somewhere and twisted it like a pretzel.

Sanji paled.

"Yes, ma'am!"

With that Sakura gave a nod and grabbed Sanji by the collar before tossing him straight at the female agent head first.

Seeing as the blonde cook was making a rocket line to her at breakneck speeds, Ms Valentine couldn't react in time as she and Sanji collided at each other head first before falling on the ground.

They crashed seconds later with a clearly dizzy Sanji fighting to get up and stumbling more than once before finally regaining his composure.

As he shook his head, he immediately noticed that two girls were already upon the female agent as they went after her with a myriad of attacks reaching from punches to palm strikes.

Sanji now decided to join the fight as he felt he shouldn't leave it to his female companions to do all the work, it would be bad for him.

He jumped, as high as his legs can take and quickly saw his opportunity with a quick positioning from mid air, Sanji suddenly connected his right foot on the girl's abdomen.

"Mouton Shot!"

And his opponent sailed to the opposite warehouse, getting through a thin wooden wall and then crashing to some old grimy cargo boxes of unknown contents. Hinata and Sakura weren't done yet as they charged inside once more with Sanji following suit.

Inside, Ms Valentine cleared the smoke from her face as she coughed vehemently. Her wardrobe, now dirty and some parts of the clothing were in tatters, was now unrecognizable she trembled in fury and gritted her teeth. These people were becoming too meddlesome and too annoying for her taste.

As she was about to stand, the sound of a woman shouting from above snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw a girl with pink hair diving at her head first with her fist drawn.

"Oukashou (Cherry Blossom Clash)!"

Ms Valentine stepped back and watched in both astonishment and fear as the ground underneath Sakura's fist as the earth splintered and an uneven landscape formed from her attack. She stumbled but did not fall, it did not, however, guarantee her safety as another girl appeared from the smoke and hit her square on the abdomen with a palm strike.

Pain coursed throughout her, like a hundred needles being pricked mercilessly as she stumbled back, her knees weakened from the blow and blood seeped from her mouth as she was pushed back in shock. The indigo haired girl didn't stop though as she performed a graceful spin and another palm strike, this time, she gathered enough chakra and force that it sent her flying back once more.

"Hakke Kuushou (Eight Trigrams Air Palm)!"

The wind palm sent her sailing past the cargo boxes and out through the other. She had no time to adjust her weight in the battle because three supposedly famished hyenas went after her like she was a dying buffalo. She tried to stand, thinking of a way to counter attack but she knew she had none. She was outnumbered and out-manoeuvred by a bunch of amateurs that certainly brought her irritation to surface.

It was then that she realized that she and her partner reached too far for their objectives. They had grasped too hard, and now, they had just been defeated and in the worst way possible, by a couple of brats with a team from the Shinobi Corps backing them up.

It was here then, that Sanji had landed in front of her, with a regrettable look on his face before planting his feet on her face and knocking her out.

* * *

Later that afternoon:

Sai had the guarded most of their companions without a problem. It was just sad that he couldn't personally join the fight due to the heir's absolute orders. But he supposed he could give the boy credit. He knew that he needed at least someone to guard the people who couldn't fight or are too weak to fight. Naruto perhaps knew that he couldn't put all of his eggs in one basket and decided to at least have one more for back up.

Now he was at the side of his protectorate once more watching the weird rubber guy shaking hands with both the spiky blonde heir and the orange head as he said his gratitude to them.

"Does it really have to turn out this way?" Naruto asked the group's ring leader while Sanji nodded.

"Yeah, if we were discovered like this then that means that it's likely that they'll come after us again here. We're moving to a different place until we're on the low profile. El Capitan isn't too keen on releasing the babe with the blue hair anytime soon." To this, Sanji pointed to Vivi who could only wave nervously at them while Luffy was nodding beside Sanji.

"T-Those people are after me and Luffy-san has agreed to help me in uncovering Mr Zero and his cronies. I can't involve you all in my problems, I'm sorry." Vivi stammered as Ichigo simply clicked his tongue at that.

"That means you probably won't go to school for the next few days, huh?" The orange head asked and Luffy nodded once more.

"Until we can resolve the issue, it can't be helped." Nami mentioned as she looked sadly at their messed up hideout and cried once more when she looked at Luffy's rich friend. Sanji couldn't help but cry as well albeit for different reasons.

"My money!"

"My girls!"

Vivi, Zoro, Chopper and Ussop all looked at the duo with a bead of sweat at the back of their heads while Luffy was laughing.

Zoro then turned his attention away from the group and looked back at the two agents tied up and unconscious.

"What about them?" He asked as Sai answered.

"They'll be submitted for interrogation. From what we can discern, they were also after Naruto-sama as well."

Zoro looked at Naruto who was laughing nervously, "Must be tough being a rich kid, huh?"

"I don't even know how to answer that." The spiky blonde commented as he once more shook Luffy's hand.

"Take care, all right? I hear this part of town can be pretty dangerous." Naruto said once more as Ussop agreed but assured him.

"Fear not, Namikaze-sama. For I have made such preparations in case an event like this was to occur." Ussop then pointed to a highly customized RV that had a crossbones design with a straw hat by the window.

"I've fitted that thing with so much tech it would probably take me a whole chapter to describe it! Though I think I still need to look over at the designs. Although my genius is unparalleled, I am not but a simple human needing more help in this expertise since my specialty lies more in chemistry and physics than engineering and electronics." Ussop mentioned this as many of them stared at the long nosed member of Luffy's crew noting how obnoxious this person was.

Orihime was looking quite impressed at the big vehicle as her eyes sparkled in wonder for the long nosed genius' handiwork.

"Does that thing come with an interplanetary restricted turbo booster?"

Everyone stared at the red head at this with a bead of sweat on the back of their heads. Luffy was looking at Ussop with the same sparkle in his eyes as if it was real. Tatsuki gave a sigh as she shook her head at this.

"We were watching MIB last night and you can guess what's going on in Orihime's head lately."

To this, they watched as Orihime wore a pair of sunglasses and looked like she was grabbing something from her boobs forcing Sanji to have hearts in his eyes while most of the male population within the group blushed and with many women sighing out of exasperation.

Things were back to their incoherent but mundane days again, for now.

* * *

On the way to Konoha Branch, Corps Wagon:

Mr Five and Ms Valentine were apprehended, they were defeated in the most humiliating way for their organization. They looked solemn, perturbed and even horrified. They failed, and failure in Baroque works was not an option. It was only met with one thing and that was…

"Yo."

Mr Five and Ms Valentine froze; they had heard the voice of this person before. And a visit from one of THEIR members meant one thing.

They were about to die.

Looking up, they saw their executioner. They saw a rather tall man, hands crossed and sitting upright. Behind him was a rather large blade that was bigger than a man and could probably cleave this entire vehicle in half with just one swing.

"So you're demon, right? How exactly did you get in here?" Mr Five asked as Ms Valentine looked horrified, too scared to even utter a word.

"Bravo, right you are, Captain Ahab. And I got in here because I'm a master in Muon Satsujin. A style passed on from the Kiri Branch of the Shinobi corps in striking in complete silence. Heck, I could probably kill you two right now without you even knowing it." Demon said mockingly as he chuckled when Mr Five didn't even laugh. Was this the effect of despair? Was it to feel so powerless to their inevitable fate?

"So, I suppose Mr Zero assigned you for this." Mr Five mentioned and looked at Ms Valentine, trying to keep her emotions in check as Demon stood up from his chair even though it was moving.

"No, well at least not yet, but I'm sure he'll get the message in time. That is, if it even gets to him. I was here first after all and that watcher of his is still nowhere in sight." Demon said this as Mr Five and Ms Valentine looked at Demon incredulously.

"You two lost the moment that you thought that those brats were the only ones fighting. It's a mistake anybody could overlook unless you have good enough intelligence about them. It's why I never acted on the heir's group for days. That and Gatou is a damn moron who doesn't know the meaning of the word subtlety." Demon mentioned as he touched one of the tin walls of the car.

Ms Valentine scowled at this, "You knew that they were accompanied by the corps?"

They did not know this! Such vital information not being relayed was nothing short of betrayal!

"Yes, but 'Mr Zero' neither knows that little information nor should he be aware of that fact. Because to his understanding of the situation, the missing princess of the Arabasta company and the Namikaze heir are totally different problems that we have to deal with. That and I specifically told him that I'll do this mission under my terms. You two should have known that the Namikaze brat is my target, or did you forget the memo?"

To this, Demon sighed as he hefted Kubikiri Houcho above his head.

"Forget it, you two should just come with me and we'll deal with the Namikaze heir first before we deal with that princess."

To this, Zabuza cleaved a large part of the right wall of the wagon and turned back to them.

"So what's it going to be, folks? Either you come with me and seek a better option than your boss or being buried six feet under by some random shmuck with a weird superpower?"

The two former agents of Baroque Works looked at each other and said to the man, "Isn't that obvious?"

* * *

To be Continued…

Took me a while to write this, I can probably guess that you know why. Anyway, here's the chapter and obviously, the next chapter should be about Naruto's storyline. Be warned that it's not what it's supposed to be since Naruto has never met Tazuna and that Zabuza is after him and not the bridge builder.

Kushina has a fight debut next chapter, yey! Also, Chad and Orihime are going to play significant roles soon along with that other Sasuke.

Till then, RnR, readers!


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